


The world we ended up in

by LinaVera



Category: Sonic - Fandom, Sonic Underground, Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Help, Multi, Music, Narrative, Not Beta Read, also cream, first fic in english
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2020-04-08 02:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19098049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaVera/pseuds/LinaVera
Summary: He knew he wasn't from here. He missed his planet sometimes and his mother and his uncle Chuck, but now he's got new friends, he gained a brother and he's a hero again. What else could he ask for? Obviously, everything starts to catch up with him, his brother is gone, his sister is worried sick and...Dr. Eggman is going back to their planet. They have to do something, and this time Sonic is going to have a lot of help.(First fic in English, please tell me if something is misspelled I'd appreciate it) (I don't really know what I'm writing?)





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

> First fic in English, please tell me if something is misspelled I'd appreciate it. Stories are not very related but they have some kind of order so...please enjoy!

He could still remember his mother’s voice, so regal and yet so caring, his father’s eyes firm to rule but soft to his people, his sister’s presence so captivating that everyone turned to look at her even when they were young, and his brother’s grin and mischievous eyes, so pink like a quartz that could distract you easily. His family was the best he could ever ask for.

And yet…it was all taken from him.

He barely remembered that man, who came to their castle a little while after his father fell asleep, he came to help so he said, but in the end, he just brought misery and ruin. He couldn’t remember later when her mother put him and his siblings into a spell that make them sleep, just like their father but they woke up with no memories, with basic necessities and blankets around them…they were hoglets again.

Later, all separated, they would learn that the man who came to their planet enslaved it, isolated it and make it into his personal junk, base or whatever you wanted to call it.

With the gift of the wind and under his uncle’s guidance he would fight to return their planet to freedom, and out of where they were stranded. His sister would be raised in diplomacy on a different house, and his brother under the care of a good-hearted thief, teaching him to listen to the people and to take what other people didn’t need.

…

Later they meet again, they learned everything, they fought, and… they lose everything again.

He didn’t remember for how long he was asleep, but when he woke up he knew immediately he was on Mobius, even when he has never been on it. He was on Christmas Island, and it was there when his current age was 7, that he discovered that an evil man wanted to take over Mobius, of course, he didn’t recognize the man back then but also the man didn’t mention anything either, his name was Eggman, and he would never forget it.

Time went by, and soon he found himself with a companion, a fox kit named Miles Prower which he began to call Tails, as a nickname for his 2 appendages. The kid was a genius and wise beyond his years, he helped his friend with his plane and soon they encountered themselves with a lot of adventures, and soon a lot of friends old and new began to come.

Sonic Hedgehog now was Sonic _ the _ Hedgehog, older brother and best friend of Tails the Fox and Hero of Mobius, he didn’t have much to do, but stop old Eggman from now and then, usually two or three times per month and then he could just travel the world, visit Tails, Knuckles, Amy and other people around the globe because he encountered many people from his home and they loved to have him for sake of the old times.

…

Currently, now, he was at top of Angel Island for his and Tails’ annual visit to Knuckles, but the problem was that the echidna was nowhere to be seen.

“Do you think he left?” Asked Tails when they saw the shrine and the emerald in it all alone. “Maybe he went to grocery shopping?”

“I don’t think so little buddy,” said Sonic looking around “He has all that he needs here in the Island, and if he needs something he would have called us” He stopped for a moment, inhale deeply and scream “KNUCKLEHEAD! IM GONNA BE TAKIN’ YOU ROCK IF YOU DON’T MIND.”

They listened.

Nothing.

“Okay that’s not good” Sonic groaned and turned to Tails “You stay here with the emerald, I’ll search the island and the crystal cave.”

He was gone before his companion could answer. Within less than 3 minutes he would find Knuckles unconscious in his –so to speak- home, but Sonic would wonder why couldn’t he sense his chaos signature at all, he quickly shake him awake, avoiding a punch and laughing at the annoyed expression fo the echidna.

“What happened?” asked Tails once they were all together in the emerald shrine.

Knuckles glanced at Sonic who was lying in the ground totally relaxed, eyes closed and arms holding his head.

“I’m not sure, I sensed something strange on the island and went to investigate but when I arrived at the place, I found nothing then I _ felt _ nothing, like falling asleep” he said with his gloved hand in his chin.

“But you have no concussions, so you didn’t hit anything nor nothing hit you. Are you sure you don’t feel weird at all?” asked Tails with concern.

Purple eyes meet sky blue and softened a little.

“No, kid. I’m fine” he said “But I appreciate that you came, at least the Master Emerald is still here, and nothing was stolen.”

Tails looked like he wanted to argue more but with a glance to his brother, he closed his eyes, and deeply breathed in.

“It’s indeed weird. And… Sonic fell asleep” he said and the echidna immediately turned his body to see his friend, he was ready to yell at him but remembered what he had said earlier.

“Let him be” he said finally, gaining a weird look from the kit, who expected him to be angry.

Then they just sit there enjoying the wind and peace, but always on alert now that one of them was asleep.

_ They played in the garden while their mother was at the meeting. The weirdly shaped human was going to reveal his great plan. _

_ “We should go see her” said his little brother. _

_ “She’s busy, little brother. Mother has things to do” said his little sister. _

_ “Let’s wait a bit, Mother said yesterday that Trigona could play with us, remember?” He had said, and so they departed looking for their mother’s guard captain. _

_ But then there was screaming, and earthquake and maids were running. The 3 had felt it, magic. Ancient magic, powerful enough to make them shiver so the eldest took his siblings’ arms and run. _

_ “I’ll destroy your kingdom, your highness.” _

_ “I’ll send them away” the Queen said “you will not touch them, for they still have great power and a chance at defeating you.” _

_ “Giving up so easily, your highness. This is very unlikely of you” _

_ “I have foreseen my kingdom’s downfall since before you came, human, but I have seen their destiny and it is greater than this” _

_ The queen lanced her spells sending the man away, but his machines were still there, empowered by a strange energy that they could not overthrow. _

_ First, she was a Queen, then a magus but deep in her heart she was a songstress, and the song of mortality could be used to restart their lives. It was necessary, her late husband would obviously not liked it, but there was no other choice. She will have to separate them and hide. _

_ “There is no hope, despair is our only savior. The light that is gone will shine no more for them. Alas, it shines no more. If everything is an illusion, then everything will disappear, if everything is destiny, then everything will disappear” _

_ “Mother?” _

_ She looked at them and smiled. Their little bodies were slowly being surrounded by light, his siblings were crying but no sound came from them. He looked at his mother in disappearing and only saw pain. _

_ “Life was created to be guided, to a world (that for them) will soon disappear. _

_ Then nothing. _

“Holy f-”

He breathe in and out to control himself, he saw Knuckles looking at him with firm eyes.

“You were having a nightmare” he said plainly.

“So you stalk me now?” He said lying flat on the floor. “Where is Tails?”

“He went to pick some fruit” the echidna looked at the hedgehog he called his friend and his eyes softened a bit and talked with a low voice “What was the dream about?”

Sonic looked at him for a second, before looking up at the sky. Then, he talked with a low, solemn voice.

“Mother casting the mortality spell the first time” he said. Knuckles was about to talk when Sonic keep talking. “It was a beautiful song, despite what it was doing to the planet…and us, it was a slow song with an incredible epic tune behind. It didn’t hurt, y’know? Like falling asleep, but I didn’t know what was happening and I panicked. It’s funny ‘cause I think between the three of us, I’m the one who remembers the most.”

They were in silence after that and Knuckles thought of Sonic. He had been his friend for many years now, even though they meet under terrible circumstances the first time, he had grown to admire the used-to-be prince. He was nothing like he was before. Now, he was happier, gentle and funny where before he was all grumpy and angry.  _ And yet, you’re the one who smiles all day now, even when you lost everything twice. _

“Do you still pick up the guitar?” He found himself asking.

“Yeah” said Sonic looking happier “I used it sometimes so Tails can relax a bit, or when I’m just lazing around the house. Why? Do you want a concert?”

He saw Tails running with a bunch of grapes and strawberries in a basket.

“No, it’s just….it’s been a while.”

“Yeah,” said the blue hedgehog after a pause “it’s been a while.”

They keep the silence until Tails arrived and deposit the basket on the floor, looking proud of himself.

“I got your favorites, Knuckles!” He said with a radiant smile, and the echidna found himself smiling.

“Thank you, Tails.”

“Good job, kid!” said Sonic, and the kit smiled even more and sat down.

“Did I miss something?” said the fox when he looked at his older brother.

“Nope, nothing. Why?”

He just shrugs and took a strawberry.


	2. Favors

A few days later they were on Angel Island again, this time with Amy and Cream for the latest wanted to pick flowers for her mother.

“Do you think my mother would like this, sir Sonic?” asked the little rabbit.

“Yes, Cream. I think she would love them” he said while sitting with her “after all, it’s a gift from you.”

The girl laughs quietly before she turns to talk to Cheese, her ever-present Chao companion.

…

A violin.

“Where did you get it?” he asked looking at the wooden instrument on Knuckles, in pure awe.

“Do you like it?” smirked his friend.

“It’s…beautiful” he was stunned so he reached the violin but paused in thought “Can I?”

Knuckles handle it to him like it was obvious. Tails had never seen his brother so stunned in his life, but he knew it was because of the instrument. His brother had space in his heart for music.

“Would you play for us, Sonic?” Asked Amy a few moments later.

He smiled and fix his posture, put his arm and the string over the body of the instrument, inhaled…and played. He felt the wind, the earth, and the emerald, he let his senses surround the violin and his friends to transmit a message, calm. He let himself be, playing with a soft smile on his lips and with a wave of inner peace, he hasn’t felt in years.

This was it. Music.

It was his guilty pleasure, to entertain that’s it, with his music. He looks over his friends and saw Knuckles with a knowing smile and eyes closed, Amy and Cream with a dreamy face, obviously stunned by this, and finally his little brother. Tails had the most brilliant expression, full of wonder and brightness.

He remembered his siblings, they were barely months old but they already had to teach them the basics of Ancient Magic, which meant that they knew the songs for each basic enchantment, how to use the instrument for their purpose, and how to entertain whoever listened to them..

He finished the song quite abruptly for his taste, but the other apparently liked it because they started to applause and smile.

He bowed dramatically and sat down.

“I didn’t know you could play like that!” said Tails, clearly amazed.

“It’s incredible Sonic, who knew” said Amy with excitement in her voice.

He looked at Knuckles with a knowing smirk.

“It’s a family thing.”

…

He received a letter from his sister that day, it wasn’t at her name and it didn’t have a direction. But he knew it was from his sis, only she writes a letter when she could’ve just called.

First of all, it said “To Sony”

He hated that name, and maybe that’s why she put it, thankfully he found the letter so Tails won’t find anything about her, he would burn it later.

_ “It’s been a while and I know you are busy, so we don’t talk much these days, but family is family and I need your help. Well, maybe not I but Manic. Something’s happening and I believe you know what I’m talking about, and I think Manic got in big trouble this time. _

_ There is gossip around that Eggman might, MIGHT have a planet for his own. _

_ Now, I know what you are thinking. How could he?But the other day Manic called and said he saw…a hedgehog, and a sword and a lot of other things in his dreams, and you know how accurate those are. But he has not called in a few months and if he’s in jail I would have known. _

_ I need your help this time, bro. _

_ Please, we have to find him. _

_ -Sonia.” _

So Manic was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t strange, his brother had a tendency for stealth and he was well known in the criminal community and in a few gangs, and if he wanted he could disappear.

But that’s less likely, he thought while burning the letter, he checks regularly on Sonia and on him. They talked but life had to make them separate, still family but since not all their memories were back they could not share everything, it wasn’t like in the war…they were almost strangers now.

He let out a sigh and look for his phone in his quills.

“Hey, Rouge. I need a favor.”


	3. Information

“ _ To think you’ll seek my help, Blue. Unbelievable.” _

“Don’t be so flattered, lady. I just need to find someone for a friend and maybe due to your…previous job, may know him.”

“ _ If I didn’t know better I’ll say you know this person _ .”

“Well, do you?” He said with a smirk.

“ _ Do I what? _ ” She said suspiciously.

“Know better?”

“ _ No, _ ” she said after a while “ _ I don’t. Do you have a name?” _

“Civilian? No. He goes by Maniac.”

The phone went silent.

“Well?”  he asked.

“ _ I do know him, though not personally. I have heard of him, he’s a good hacker, fast handed, and a calm personality _ ” she said and paused a bit “ _ Why do you want to reach him? He’s clearly a criminal, wants to change sides?” _

“Let’s just say he’s important to a friend, can you tell me where he is?” He looked up and saw Tails getting out of the workshop, with oil in his gloves. Sonic made a movement with the head to the stairs, “go clean yourself”. Tails rolled his eyes but obeyed.

“ _ I don’t know, I’ll make some calls and call you back, _ ” she said “ _ You owe me, blue _ .”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks.”

He stood there and passed a hand for his spikes with a heavy sigh.

“Who was it?”

He almost jumped, Tails was standing in the middle of the stairs.

“I thought you were in the bathroom,” he said smirking. 

Tails smiled as well, but run to the bathroom instead to reply.

“ _ You better be okay, Manic”  _ Sonic thought, while making his way to the kitchen to make some chili-dogs for dinner “ _ If you’re not, we are not going to survive Sonia’s rampage.” _

…

“Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb; they cling to the real or the Gods of love.”

“I didn’t know you were trying poetry” he said with a smirk and sarcasm in his voice.

“I don’t “ said the kit on the couch “I’m reading about Chaos Energies and this pop-up.”

He laughed a little at his brother’s face of concentration while reading. But he was interrupted when his phone rang, he put it out from his spikes and answer.

“Did you find anything?” he said while exiting the room and closing the door of the hangar, without noticing Tail’s look.

“W _ hat? No hello?”  _ said Rogue at the other side of the line _ “But yes, I found something, and you’re not going to like it.” _

Her tone was serious like when she was on missions.

“Go on”

“ _ His movements are pretty difficult to catch, but he was on Station Square 4 months ago, on a small robbery of an electronics shop. Then he vanished like a ghost, no trace of him. But I found that the place he was last seen was where Eggman got some supplies around 3 weeks before the robbery”. _

“So you think he’s with the Egg” he stated sitting down heavily on Tails’ working space while looking at the sunset on deep thought, Manic wasn’t stupid, he was a genius for chaos sake!.

“ _ I don’t think anything, but if he’s involved with Eggman then it may be a possibility” _ she paused and let a long sigh “ _ Listen, I don’t know who this person is for that friend of yours, but if he’s working with Eggman then we have a problem. He’s a genius, like Tails. But he has been using his abilities for bad purposes.” _

“You think GUN would go after him?”

“ _ Maybe, but they haven’t heard of him yet. But if that’s the case, I’ll let you know.” _

“Thanks, Rouge. Really.”

“ _ It’s a pleasure to serve, Blue.” _

…

Tails was no fool. He noticed how his brother was worried about something, he was distracted, and a bit short-tempered most days now.

He knew Sonic had been talking to Rouge about someone, and for now, Sonic had gone to Angel Island to talk to Knuckles, probably about the same topic. He was looking for someone and it was so difficult that it has to be from illegal measures.

But he knew Sonic was a chaotic good individual, he did what was necessary to reach his goals, that’s what he learned in all his years knowing him.

Still… he probably shouldn’t look into it, but if he wanted the help of a thief to collect information, it may not be something he would need to know yet.

Or maybe he would be a typical brother, and go find out what was happening…yes, that was more like it.


	4. Reunions

“I thought you had piano classes” said Sonic at the hedgehog sitting in front of him in a café.

“I did,” said the pink hedgehog “I just had them in the morning, the teacher doesn’t mind.”

They stood in silence for a few seconds, and Sonic looked at his sister carefully. She was nervous, he could tell, she was playing with his thumb and little finger. She had changed a lot these years, her eyes were blue now, like the ocean, her spines were on a ponytail today and she was wearing a bit of makeup. 

When she put the cup of coffee aside he concentrated on her.

“Did you find anything?” she asked tilting a bit forward.

“I did, with some help from a friend on G.U.N,” he said with a sigh while putting aside the cup as well “She didn’t have much info, but due to her previous job, she told me enough.”

“Previous job?” she asked with a raised eyebrow “and I thought you didn’t like G.U.N.”

“I don’t like G.U.N., but we have to find Manic.”

She hummed in response and look for him to continue.

“She found he was on a robbery 4 months ago on an electronics shop” he paused to see her reaction, nothing “but you knew of this…”

“Of course,” she said like it was obvious “he told me, but the shop was an underbar…a magus bar.”

He raised an eyebrow at this, he didn’t know of this because he didn’t live in SQ, but he was surprised that Sonia did, she worked and lived on Soleanna most of the time.

“It belonged to a distant relative of Penthesilea, he said that he needed some jewelry to make a protection charm” she put her elbows on the table and close her hands “we both know that between the three of us, Manic is the one who knows and remembers better about potions and charms but I still don’t understand why he needed it. I was going to call you to ask if you knew but he said that it wasn’t necessary that it was something he needed to do for someone. And I thought he needed it for some elder on the few houses but…”

“But now he’s not here” he finished for her. She looked at him with a grim expression “My friend said that 3 weeks before the robbery, Eggman got supplies from the store.”

She looked at him in alarm, her eyes wide and mouth hanging a bit open.

“You don't think that Manic…” she couldn’t finish the sentence, and she didn’t need to. They were both thinking the same.

“Of course I don’t. Manic is not stupid” he took her hand “I’m going to find him, Sonia. I promise.”

She gave him a smile, a smile one but full of hope.

“I know you will” she said “and if you need help,  _ anything _ , brother. You can seek my help.”

“I know, silly. I know. I’ll visit Penthesilea tomorrow.”

She looked at him with a gentle expression.

“Of course. Please send my regards to Penthesilea, tell her that I will visit her soon. And Sonic…why don’t you bring Tails with you?”

“Because he could get hurt.”

“But you still brought him to all your previous adventures, with Eggman. He is the most dangerous individual on this side of the universe, Sonic.”

“No, Robotnik is the most dangerous individual on this side, Sonia. Eggman has to keep up with me, he builds fast because I destroy fast, but Ivo is a completely different person.”

“He could be of great assistant to this. Something’s about to happen, Manic told me, and maybe that’s why he was so frantic that day…I’m worried, more than I would care to admit, and you are too. You can feel it around you, more than ever, and it’s not Chaos Energy. We need all the help we could get.”

He said nothing as he looked at her intensely, she looked at him with a worried expression.

“Think about that, brother.”

And he was gone.

…

“So, what you’ve got so far?”

“What?”

“I know you followed me to SQ today, Tails” he saw his lil brother expression fall “don’t worry you’re not in trouble. But I have been followed before, so…”

Tails let out a sigh and sat on the couch in front of Sonic.

“I know you’re looking for someone” he said “and… that you’re not using legal methods because I hear you speak to Rouge the other day, and maybe you knew him from this friend. The lady you meet with at that café.”

Sonic was impressed, he was actually a good detective.

“Well, you’re right. I’m looking for someone” he said with a gentle voice “I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you wanted to you to accompany me in this…adventure. And I thought that I could do this alone but the…lady you saw me with, made me change my mind.”

“She did?” Tails asked with amazement.

“She did,” he said smiling “I believe you can come with me on this one, Tails. But believe me, buddy it’s going to be very different.”

“Different? Different how?”

“You’ll see” he said with a smirk “The lady you saw was a good friend of mine, and she asked me to look for her brother. All I know is that he was on a robbery 4 months ago, and disappeared. But I also know that old Doc was there 3 weeks prior to the robbery.”

“So he was a thief and you think he has something to do with Eggman” he said with a concentrated expression, his hand on this chin “Maybe they didn’t want to sell something to Eggman and he hires the guy to take it from him, but why would he go to that place?”

“The thing Tails is that the store is a low electronic store. That means is a place for thieves, dealers, and other mobians and humans to hang out.”

“Oh…”

Sonic laughed at his brother’s expression.

“But tomorrow we are going to see a friend who happens to know the owner, maybe she’ll know what happened that day.”

…

The other day in the morning, and after a little fight trying to get Tails out of bed, they were on their way to Empire City, specifically the countryside.

“You can land on that clear” Sonic said standing on the right-wing of the Tornado “Close to that mansion.”

“Okay!”

When the Tornado landed on the side of the Mansion, they were welcomed by a butler (Tails thought those didn’t exist but on movies), he was an old owl, with a tuxedo and everything.

“Greetings, Master Sonic” said the Owl politely.

“Oh, hey Al, just Sonic will be fine" answered Sonic casually, and pointed to Tails “This is my little bro, Tails.”

“Hi” said Tails with a shy smile.

The Owl smiled at the kit and greeted him as well.

“Hello, Master Tails, welcome to the Vespera Household. My name’s Alexander and I work for Lady Penthesilea, I believe she’s who you’re looking for?”

“Yes, do you know if she can see us?” Asked Sonic “I have to talk to her about the…incident.”

Alfred seemed to understand and guide them to the mansion, it was big and the butler moved with impressive agility for someone of his age. They shortly arrive at an open space on the other side, and there, Tails saw a female cat with red fur, sitting under a tree on a chair, while at her feet was a female kitten with the same fur, who seemed to be her daughter or even a sister, though Tails.

“Milady, Master Sonic is here to see you” said Alfred with a little bow, when he approached her.

“Ah, yes. I wanted to speak to him too” she turn to face them, she had golden eyes, she smiled at Sonic.

“Yo, Penthi”

“Hello, Sonic” she said while looking at Tail too “And hello to you too, Tails” she gave motion to the kitten and looked at Alfred- Alexander, please take Dalma to her rooms.

“Yes, milady. Come, Miss Dalma.”

_ Weird _ , Tails thought _ , I didn’t tell her my name. _

When they left the cat motioned them to sit on the branch in front of her chair.

“I wanted to speak with you Sonic, I know you came for the Robbery on my cousin’s store.”

“Of course you know, you knew the time I entered in your place” he said with some false annoyance “I’m looking for Maniac, as you know, his sister is worried sick.”

“And are you not?” she asked.

“Maybe.”

She seemed pleased with the answer and looked at Tails.

“How old are you, Tails?”

The kit seemed stroke by the question but answered anyway.

“12.”

“Hmmm” she looked at Sonic “Is he approved to know?.”

“Of course not,” Said Sonic with a smirk “but since when I follow the rules?”

“Good to see you haven’t changed.”

They stood up and went inside, Penthesilea went ahead and Sonic stopped Tails for a moment and kneeled to look at him in the eyes.

“Now listen, Tails. What you’re about to see is something I encountered on my journeys before I meet you and I promised to keep it a secret, and you have to do the same.”

“I promise.” he said immediately, though he didn’t know what he was promising.

Then, they proceed to a room, nothing too strange about it, but when suddenly a mirror pop out of nothing, Tails stops on his feet.

“Uhm, what.”

Then Lady Penthesilea walked through it, and Sonic was about to do the same when he stopped and looked at Tails.

He holds a hand to him.

“Come, it’s okay.” he waited patiently, and after a few deep breaths, he took his brother’s hand, who in return gave him a tight reassurance and pulled him through the mirror.

On the other side was a massive room, with bookshelves and bottles with colorful liquids inside. There were pretty rocks, jewelry, and some crazy diagrams. While he was taking everything in, he didn’t notice Sonic and the cat lady approaching the great, white table in the center, they put everything away and then a map on the table, it was a map from Station Square.

When Tails reached them, Penthesilea began to spread some dust over the image, then the lines on the map glowed and with a hand on top of the map, she pulls up a 3D image of the city.

“Whoa…”Tails was shocked.

“I said the same” laughed Sonic taking a bit of dust in his hands and proceed to manipulate the image, he was looking for the store. When he found it he picks the building with one hand while, Penthesilea, pick the rest of the city down with his hand.

“Now, I know that Maniac needed some stones for his protection charm, so he went to see my cousin for some supplies, he entered here” the building showed the back door and a green dot appeared, must be Maniac, though Tails.

“Protection charm?” repeated Tails “as in, magic charm?”

“Something like that” answered Sonic with a chuckle.

“But…magic doesn’t exist”

“Of course not, in this world is highly unexpected” answered Penthesilea “Of course, not everyone can access the root, Mobius has too much chaos energy to get proper access.”

“I have no idea what you’re saying” admitted Tails, he looked at Sonic but he just shrugs and looked to the map, seeing as the green dot walked through the floor to another store, this time resembling a bar.

“So he went down there for the stones, but why did his dis-”

Suddenly the dot had disappeared as well as the other dots resembling the other people in it.

“That’s it?” Asked Tails “It seems a bit…off.”

“It’s everything I got, his signature stops there.”

“But the signal cannot stop, it’s like chaos energy, the only way to stop sensing it, it’s if he’s…”Sonic didn’t finish the sentence.

“If he’s dead.”

Sonic sharply looked up at Penthesilea.

“ _ Or _ if it’s too weak to detect” he said with a firm and strained voice. There was a sudden silence as they looked at each other.

“If it’s too weak, and if it’s like chaos energy, maybe we have to go to the place a see if there are any scraps left” said Tails suddenly cutting the awkward moment.

“That’s not a bad idea.” said Penthesilea slowly and Sonic’s eyes basically glowed with pride while he ruffles his brother’s hair.

“Good thinking Tails” he said with a thumbs up.

“You can always go and check if you want” said the cat after a while, taking an emerald jewel which was the size of a coin “Throw this on the floor in the area and it will show you what happened.

“How is it supposed to work?” asked Tails, still not fully believing.

“Think of it like a laser’s revealer…like in the movies” said Sonic.

“It will show you the trace of his mana like green floating dust” said Penthiselea, she turned to Tails “I would be glad to teach you about this if you like…though I don’t think you’ll be able to use it since you’re not of our kin. My child is far too young to learn and I fear that she lacks the necessary. And as you may think this is nothing like technology, it’s using the power of the land and ourselves as conduits.”

“So…it’s like Gaia energy.”

“Yes, we use the power of the will of the planet.”

“What about Light Gaia and Dark Gaia?” Tails could see where it was going, maybe for them, this was like using chaos energy, but in the most ancient way.

“There’s no difference” she then looked at Sonic for a moment and smiled knowingly.

“You may leave”

Sonic grinned and took the jewel from the table. He looked at Tails.

“Why don’t you go ahead?”

“Alfred will take you there, and why don’t you take some of the cookies he made this morning?” asked the feline, and Tails looked around and just notice how well hidden was the butler when he appeared out of a corner.

“Uhh…” he looked at Sonic, and with an encouraging smile and a nod let his brother know that it was okay.

Once they left, the smile on the lady’s face turned into a sad one.

“I’m sorry about Manic. I know you were very fond of him.”

Sonic looked at her immediately.

“He’s not dead” he said frowning but decide to change the topic. “Are you willing to teach Tails, for real? You are the one that says that you could never betray your own kin. Besides now it’s not the time”

“No, but he is no ordinary mobian. You probably and unconsciously knew when you take him under your care, didn’t you not?”

“Maybe, he has a great future ahead of him and I would love to see him grown up, and be there to see him achieve what he wants. But I think he will grow here on Mobius, and while I think it can be useful for him to know some of these…Arts, I want him to stay out of it for as long as I can.”

“I see,” said the cat “It’s true that our crafts here on Mobius are pretty dark in some ways, but they still have the beauty of being recently discovered.”

“Recently discovered, and still, there are thousands of you who practice it now”

“Do you not consider yourself one of us, hedgehog?”The lady narrowed her golden eyes and looked firmly at the blue hero.

“Oh, Penthi” he said with a little laugh “you know I don’t take sides.”

She still looked at him and then a smile broke on her face.

“No, you don’t. But this world is going to change soon, and you’ll have to pick one.”

He didn’t answer directly and avoided the question.

“Sonia says you owe her a Grail game,” he said while walking to the mirror “and I would like to play too when you decide to hostage it.”

And then he was gone.

“ _ With all these pieces slowly coming to play, it will be an amazing game.” _


	5. Clues

When they were flying close to the house, they noticed that Angel Island was on the process of landing, and it was no surprise when later they found Knuckles on their couch.

He said that weird energy had made him put the island on the ground.

“It’s making the island to have earthquakes and until I find out what’s going on with it, I’ll keep the island here,” he said and looked outside the window, the night was beginning “Can I crash here tonight?”

“Sure,” said Sonic and went to take a blanket and a pillow for Knuckles “We’ll talk more in the morning,” he said with a yawn. He looked at Tails, the kid was practically dead on his feet, he chuckled and shake him.

“Hey bud, it’s time to go to bed” he made the kit walk while taking his shoulder to guide him, and they slowly started to walk to the stairs. Sonic waved at Knuckles and put his little brother on his bed, making sure he was comfortable and went to his own bed.

He didn’t notice when the green jewel started to glow faintly on his desk.

…

_ “Is he here?” he asked. His voice resonating somewhere else. _

_ “Of course, he’s already here.” _

_ “Do you have everything?” he asked his sister. He looked at her while she softened the rip of her gun “Sonia?” _

_ “Yes, I’ve got everything” she said while looking for the scoop. _

_ “It’s here,” he said while his eyes glowed faintly, like a camera “Everyone in position, if someone interferes, eliminate it. Manic, do your thing.” _

_ “Shutting down the systems…” he made a pause “You’re clear to go.” _

_ “I’ve got him,” said Sonia, she closed her look on the man, an anarchist who was making business with Robotnik. Her scope just on the head of the anarchist who was just stepping outside the hangar to receive said doctor “Just a little more…” _

_ “I’ve been spotted!” sound Cyrus for the coms “They’re going to set off the alarms.” _

_ Sonic groaned and pulled his weapon aside. _

_ “Well, shit” Sonic looked at his sister who just shrugged her shoulders and gave him a knowing smile “Yeah, yeah.” _

_ They configured their weapons into necklaces again with a quick movement of their hand and prepare to get out. _

_ “Where are you, Cyrus?” Asked Sonic “I’ll go for you, Sonia will open the path with Manic and we will meet at the base.” _

_ “Sure, office 13-B, on the third floor.” _

_ “Got it.” _

_ … _

“So…this is the place?” asked Tails while they sneak in the back of the store.

“Yeah, I think so…”

“You think so? Did we come all the way here for an assumption?” asked Knuckles with a raised eyebrow.

“Chill, Knuckles. This is the place” Said Sonic while taking out the key from his quills and opened the door.

Inside was a little dustier than usual, probably because the owner hadn’t reopened after the robbery, and everything was quite messy in the room.

They slowly made their way to the basement, it like an old abandoned bar.

“Well, now what?” asked Knuckles “The lady gave you a rock, right?”

“Yeah, Penthesilea said that it should show us the trace of the guy’s prana if we throw it to the ground” Sonic put the jewel out, and with a look at Tails, who nodded in return, he tossed the stone and crushed it on the floor.

Almost instantly, it exploded with green dust, which floated in the room like painting brushes.

“The lines go back to the door” noticed Knuckles.

“According to my Miles Electric, in the door are incredible high lectures of chaos energy” he said taking a glance at Sonic, who was walking to the door.

“So, now what? We are not detectives, and I don’t have time to call the Chaotix for this” he said, he rubbed his temples with his thumb and said “Okay, this dust ends here, but it’s too weak to be noticed in regular means. But the Chaos energy picked the highest here, so it’s safe to assume that’s something big with a lot of chaos energy but not so much to be noticed was …here.”

Tails looked a bit stunned by all of this, he knew his brother was smart when he needed it.

“But if it’s a lot of chaos energy for the Electric to pick it, I still don’t feel it. It’s a vague sensation” said Knuckles, he paused and think of the possibilities “It could be contained in something.”

“But it’s Chaos Energy,” said Tails “Chaos, in its essence, it’s chaotic.”

“What about an Anarchy Beryl?” asked Sonic, eyes wide in thought.

“It…could be. It’s powerful enough but still, it’s contained. Just the opposite of what it should be” said Knuckles slowly “But the only way to get a Beryl, it’s in Moebius. And you can’t get there by just Chaos Control…so, maybe he managed to create something that can contain it or a way to amplify chaos but make it more…static, more still.”

“But what does this have to do with Maniac?” asked Tails, still not seeing what was with the guy.

Knuckles looked over to Sonic, asking him silently if he wanted to tell, with a little nod he continued.

“Maniac is a powerful mind, you don’t mess up with him. He knows his ways in life, he’s smart, like you but life has brought him to different ways” he said “Maybe Eggman knew he was somewhat part of this…community, and their ways and wanted knew more, and he kidnapped him- the blue blur finished with a shrug.”

“Oh, I still don’t get it but…, now what?” asked Tails.

“Now, we find Eggman.”


	6. Guest

The knocks on the door made Sonic groan as he tried to block the sound with his blanket. The sound keeps going and he heard the bed of his buddy on the other room creaked, he looked at the hour, almost 5 am. He had another hour of sleep completely ruined.

He got up with a groan and put on his gloves and shoes just in case. When he got to the door he saw his brother stepping out of his own.

“What’s that noise?” he asked rubbing his eyes “it’s too early to…be awake” he said with a yawn.

Sonic laughed quietly and pet the kid on the head.

“Go back to sleep Tails, I’ll check out what’s going on.”

“kay.”

The kid didn’t seem to protest any further and returned to bed. He went down the stairs and found Knuckles on the couch, staring furiously at the door.

-It’s been 10 minutes since the sound began, what took you so long?- he glared at the blue hedgehog.

“You’ve been awake all this time and didn’t answer the door?” he asked incredulously.

“It’s not my house” said Knuckles.

“Incredible” murmured Sonic under his breath. He opened the door and almost thought that Amy was inclined in the doorframe.

“ _ Sonic… _ ” breathed the girl, and struggled to stand.

“Sonia” he said and quickly he was at her side supporting her. Knuckles got up as well and then Sonic guided his sister to the couch.

“What happened?” he asked once she was sitting comfortably on the couch.

“I…I still don’t know” she said and her voice shakes a little  “I was on my apartment on Soleanna and I felt this pain in my chest like I was stabbed and I think it was my core”

“ _ What?!” _

Magus, like her, had Cores, which were a specialized organ that recollects prana from the environment and collected it on the body. Being ripped out like that…

“How are you standing? How are you…”  _ Alive? _ Asked Knuckles.

“I don’t know, I…” she sighed and looked at her brother “I just know that someone took my circuits, I could barely transport myself here.”

“You  _ are _ running empty,” said Knuckles after a pause “but it’s nothing that rest can’t heal.”

“Thank you, Knuckles” said Sonia with a tired smile “Would you mind if I stay here for a couple of days..?”

Sonic smiled at her understanding her fear.

“Of course not, you can have my room. I’ll sleep on the other couch” he said, and carefully took Sonia on his arms.

“You don’t have to do this, you know?” she said in a low voice as she waved goodbye to Knuckles when they started to climb the stairs at a normal pace, Sonic didn’t want to startle her.

“Do what?”

“Being nice, I know we are not as we used to be. This world changed us, Sonic. And…I’m ashamed that we have done nothing to fix it.”

Sonic laid her on the bed and sat by her side.

“I know this is…weird for you, and it’s weird for me too, but maybe getting to know each other will not be the best move if we…” he paused a moment to think of what to say and to Sonia, it seemed almost painful to him “if we want to forget that life. It’s not who we are anymore, Sonia.”

“No, but…” she said and cover herself more with the blankets “I sometimes dream of those times, some are happy and some are sad. I have glimpses of the war and I don’t want to return to it, it scares me. But…I’ve grown fond of that life, and sometimes I wish I had it back if it means to have a family again”

Sonic looked at her for a moment and then closed his eyes, trying to remember his adventures with his siblings.

-Yeah…me too” he said with a strained voice “But some of that things are still with us…like the music. It still has a special place in my heart, even when I can’t use it in Ancient Magic.”

“Yeah…me too, and I’m sure Manic as well.”

“I’ll go search for Eggman tomorrow, eh, in a few hours” he said standing up “I’ll go with Tails, you okay on your own here? Knuckles will go to Angel Island too.”

“Yes, as long as I don’t strain myself….” she said and prepare herself to sleep “If Eggman was behind what happened to me, and what happened to Manic…make sure he pays, blue speedster.”

“Of course, princess.”

…

“I heard a feminine voice in the morning,” said Tails while they run, and fly in his case, through the forest of Spagonia “Was it, Amy? I was almost asleep…”

“No, it wasn’t Amy” he said looking at him from the corner of his eyes while dodging a branch “It was the friend I talked to you about the other day, the girl who asked me to find his brother.”

“Oh, what was she doing at the house that early?” asked the fox.

“…someone attacked her, but she’s fine now. I let her stay at the house because I think it could be someone working for Eggman…”

“So now he attacks his sister?” he asked.

“Apparently” he shrugs “But now we have to find Eggman to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid again.”

They came to stop just outside the forest, the base was just ahead and there was no security, at least outside.

“Come, we better check out if he’s here. I’ll go ahead and drop you in the control room while I check other areas.”

The fox nodded and Sonic took him by the arm carefully.

“Let’s do this, bro.”


	7. Found

So they found him, not in good condition and he was not what he expected.

He was on a tube, or a pod (Tail’s wasn’t sure) with wires attached to his arms, chest, and head. Beside him was a monitor with his vital signs, he saw that they were weak but stable.

“We need to take him out” he said quickly.

“Yeah, but where will we take him?” Asked back Sonic “we don’t have a place to treat him.”

“What about Amy? Or G.U.N? Or maybe the workshop…what-” he suddenly got an idea “What about his sister? Maybe she knows some auxiliary treatment until we can get him to proper care…”

Sonic looked at him like he had grown a third tail. But then he looked at the hedgehog in the pod with an unreadable expression, was it worry? Sadness? Doubt?

“Okay, can you take him out?” He asked finally giving him space to work while he looked for his phone on his quills, he quickly pressed some bottoms and wait for someone to pick it.

“ _ Yes?” _

_ “ _ It’s me. I found him.”

_ “…”  _ he heard loud static and could only assume it was a sigh of relief.

“ _ How is he?” _

“I still don’t know, that’s why I’m calling you” he looked over to Tails who was typing in the keyboards and slicing his finger through screens and talked in a low voice “he seems unharmed but his vitals are still low…we can’t take him to the hospital so I was wondering if you remember those days at the infirmary-”

“ _ I do” _ she cut him _ “Bring him over, I’ll see what I can do. Do you mind if I look for a first aid kit?” _

“No, it’s in the bathroom. Thanks.”

He hangs off and waited for Tails to finished, which wasn’t much because a few minutes later he was done. He pressed a few bottoms and the pod positioned itself horizontally and it opened.

“It’s okay if we cut these things out?” Asked Sonic.

“Yeah, they are just reading his vitals and brain activity…” he quickly took them and gently put them off.

Sonic looked at his brother carefully while he worked on the other hedgehog he used to call brother.

His quills were a little shorter than he remembered, his earrings and piercings were gone and he looked even more similar to him now, but still different if you didn’t know. His fur was a bit paler and there were bags under his eyes, he may be unconscious but he had not rested at all.

He slowly put his arms below him and lift him.

“Okay, let’s get him in the plane and get out of here”

Tails nodded firmly and followed him out.

…

The lady, whose name was Sofia, said that he didn’t have anything major…he was just asleep. They tell her in what state they’ve found him, and she seemed troubled by how was he only asleep.

“Perhaps Eggman just wanted to observe him” she said “For what else could he needed him?

“I don’t know yet but maybe he can tell us when he wakes up” answered Tails optimistically.

Sofia found herself smiling.

“Yes, maybe he can tell us” she stood up and walk past Tails. Sonic, who was at the door frame of the kitchen looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

“She seems nervous” said Tails when she was out of hearing.

“I would be too if you were kidnapped by Eggman” he said, he looked over Maniac and with a firm look from Tails “Fine, I’ll go talk to her.”

He found her in front of the house, against a tree. She was looking down at his hand and when Sonic approaches her, he noticed it was her piano-shaped medallion.

“You know…sometimes, when I sing close to someone I still can produce the Mirus” she sighed “I used last week to make a girl I was babysitting fell asleep.”

He sat down next to her and waited for her to continue, but she never did.

“Remember those days when we used to run around after our lessons, and we wanted to play with Trigona?” she nodded absently “She always freaked out when Manic was about to cry…so she always played with us.”

“Yeah, he couldn’t control the earthquakes that well back then…” she said, “none of us could, well, except you…”

“Oh, come on!” he said giggling “I bumped into walls every time.  You had a hard time with your fire but you managed it in no time.”

“Yeah, I suppose” she blinked suddenly and turned to face Sonic smiling “Good job, brother. You have successfully distracted me.”

“He will be fine, you know?” he said when they stood up and went to the house.

“Of course, he’s our brother after all” she said quietly to make sure no one listens.

…

When Tails got back inside the living room he stood in shock as he saw the green hedgehog already sitting, looking at his hands. He steadies himself and approaches the hedgehog.

“You’re awake” he said just above a whisper and the pink eyes encountered blue.

Tails had never seen eyes that color, they were almost as pink as quartz and they glowed, not literally of course, but in wonder, his face didn’t show it, but the eyes of the green hedgehog looked at everything, wanting to take everything in.

“I-I’m Tails” said the kit and the pink eyes narrowed a little “The Fox, you’re at my house. My brother brought you here when he found you at Eggman’s base.”

The hedgehog,  _ Maniac, _ Tail’s remembered to himself, nodded and waited for him to continue but didn’t say a word.

“I’ll go get your sister, she’s also here” his eyes lighted up, and suddenly went so bright with emotion Tails had to look away.

Tails disappear out of sight almost immediately.

He found Sonia on Sonic’s room, the hero now was on his routine run and the lady was exhausted from everything that has happened so she just sat on his brother’s bed and read.

“Uhm, Sofia?” He said still shaken from the other hedgehog’s eyes “he’s awake.”

The magenta hedgehog looks up from her book and with relief said nothing and went down.

“Maniac?” She said when she arrived at the living. Her brother was already sitting and looking around “How are you feeling?”

He looked at her and smile.

“Awful, but still alive” He said and hugged her. She relaxed more visibly in his arms and smiled greatly. When they separated they notice Tails standing awkwardly on the side.

“Brother, this is Tails” she said gesture him “He’s Sonic’s brother, we are at his house now.”

“Tails?” he said unsure and the kit nodded “That’s a funny name.”

“Oh…” laugh quietly Tails approaching the pair and sitting on one of the other couches “It’s a nickname. Sonic give it to me.”

He moved his tails behind him and smiled, he had heard all kinds of questions and after a few years, they had stopped bothering him.

“That’s so cool” said Maniac.  _ A kitsune then… “ _ Thanks for helping me, by the way. And helping my sister too…”

“Yeah” said Sonia smiling  “My little brother can put himself in so much trouble…”

“Little?” he said in exasperation “For you to know, dear sister. You’re only 2 minutes older.”

“You’re twins?” exclaimed Tails. If he looked closely know he could definitely see the similarity in the faces.

“We are” said both at unison.

Tails hadn’t seen it before, because of the eyes and the fur but now that they were side by side he could see how they looked alike, the form of the face, their eyes. They had a gleam, a spark of some kind, the same he got when he looked at Sonic or Knuckles.

He blinked when he heard something on his workshop, his ear twitching a bit.

“I think Sonic’s back, I’ll go see.”

And he left while looking for his brother.

…

“He seems nice” said Manic once Tails was gone “He has a good heart, young and a bit naïve, but very smart.”

“Will he be of assistance?” asked Sonia with an uncertain voice- he’s young but being with Sonic for so long has helped him more than I can think of.”

“First, he sees material and facts, but he will learn. We all need a bit of trauma after all, and I feel he’s going to have or already had several…I like him. But for now, you need to chill…”

Sonia looked at him quickly, curious about the sudden change in his voice. It happened around him, he would talk all hocus pocus then will return to his normal self.

“You’re a weird hedgehog, brother…” she said with a sigh.

His only answer was to smile knowingly and let his head rest on his arms on the side of the couch.

…

“Man! That really burnt out my stamina” the hero laughed to himself while he stopped at the hangar of the workshop. He walked towards the fruit plate that was on the table beside a lot of engineering tools

“Sonic!” yelled Tails running in the room “He’s awake!”

“Uhmm…who?” said the hero, obviously not knowing or just too excited to notice.

Tails sighed at his brother short-span attention.

“Maniac! He’s awake!” he said exasperated.

And Sonic was gone.


	8. Awaken

“…for the save.”

“Sure man” said Sonic’s voice with a relaxed tone, obviously glad that the other hedgehog was okay “But… I think we need to know what happened.”

Maniac looked at his brother intensely and inclined his head like he was listening to something and nodded.

“As you know, I was at the shop for supplies for a protection charm,” he said “but you already knew that. I don’t remember much yet, but I know that somehow Eggman appeared at the shop.”

“Why don’t you tried to” she said out loud but noticed Maniac’s look and lowered her voice “Why don’t you tried to transport yourself elsewhere, I mean you  _ had _ a translocator somewhere…right?”

Maniac stood in silence looking at his sister with fearful eyes and darted between his older siblings.

“You hadn’t.”

“He hadn’t.”

Manic nodded his head in confirmation of what his sibling suspected. Using this translocator allowed him to reappear somewhere else far from the point he was by tracking his prana and instantly “call it” to place.

“No, I hadn’t. And that’s exactly why I wanted to get the protection charm ready because I’m running low” he said and looked at his necklace “I wanted to make charms for you two too… I’m sure you guys have felt it by now. The Gaia energy is running out, and it’s making the chaos energy go nuts.”

“What?!” screamed Sonia in a whisper, and Sonic’s frown got deeper.

“A few days ago, Knuckles landed Angel Island because there was something causing earthquakes across the place, maybe is something about the same?

“I don’t know, maybe there’s something on Eggman’s system…” he suddenly snapped his head to Sonic “The kid…Tails? He can help us.”

“Of course, he can!” said Sonic “he’s smart as you. But why? You need him to do something?”

“He went with you to save me, right? He hacked the system and take some information out…maybe he hasn’t seen it yet…” said Manic with a frown.

“Maybe, but how do you” he stopped in the middle of the sentence “ …forget it. You’re just like mom…even more polite than before.”

His siblings grinned knowingly.

…

“We need someplace to hide…at least for a day,” said Maniac when they reached, along with Sonic, Sonia, Knuckles and Tails, their destination. The place where he was held captive.

“Why do you say that?” asked Tails while descending the plane.

“This place is charged with chaos energy, too much to counter the other energy that’s making the place go nuts. If we stay, we may end up tangled in the chaos.” Maniac looked at his sister, she was sitting on the backseat and looking at Sonic with a frown, the blue hedgehog had a pensive look.

“I know a place…”

…

“Where are we?” asked Knuckles.

“We just have to wait a few minutes, it should be here soon…it’s almost midnight.”

“ _ What _ has to be here soon?” the echidna asked again.

“Oh,” said Maniac casually “here it is.”

Slowly a mist started to form but the light of the moon shines upon it and figures started to appear, from the ground stones started to rise to form an arc with a circle on top, the moon seemed to fit right into it, and suddenly in the distance Tails saw a town, maybe a city.

“Bu-but! That wasn’t there before!” he exclaimed in disbelief.

“What’s going on?” asked Knuckles.

“Have you ever heard of the city of Brigadoon?” asked Sonia, she saw Tails slowly nod.

“The legend says that the town appears every year under the moonlight. It is said that if you stumble upon it you will disappear with it because all the citizens are dead people.”

Sonia laughed at this and make a hand gesture to follow them through the arc and into the city.

“That’s not true, but all legends have a hint of truth in it”  she said.

“Then Brigadoon is real?” he asked, his eyes growing with disbelief. “But…how?”

“We are not sure…” shrugged Maniac “but Brigadoon it’s not its real name. It’s-”

“Mobodoon” read Knuckles on the sign that was just outside the town, he turned around and noticed the absence of the blue speedster “Hey…where’s Sonic?”

“He must go forward to the town hall.”

“He knows this place?!” exclaimed Tails, but he quiets down almost immediately “of course, he does…But we won’t disappear, right? I don’t want to be part of the legend…”

“Nah, we just have to leave before tomorrow at midnight.”

They slowly saw a mountain and at the top of it seemed to be the city. It was all white which remind Tails of the houses in the country of Greece in the human territory. He could hear laughter and music, and slowly people started to appear, they looked weird like some crossing between animals.

“They are called mixes,” said Maniac slowing his step so he could be at his side. “They are mobians who are the product of intern-breeding of species, they are not recognized as one species only. Mostly they are of our kind”  he said with a wink, and Tails understood almost immediately, they were  _ mages _ , though he still doubts the concept.

In the low part of the city, just at the beginning of a mountain, Tails saw Sonic talking to a horse, he was dressed rather funny.

“Ah! Here they come!” smiled Sonic when they arrived “This is my friend Knuckles and my brother Tails.”

“It’s very nice to meet you both” said the horse and give a little bow “I’m Mayor Whinnyham, and I welcome you to our town.”

“It’s lovely to be here again” said Sonia bowing a little in response.

“Yes, we have been waiting this day, some people are going out to the closest city in the morning to collect some supplies from other markets” he motioned with his hand to a big house at the middle of the mountain “As always we expected you’ll come Sonic, so the guests room has been cleaned.”

“Thanks, Whinn” he put his shoulder around Tails and guided him “We’ll see you in the morning. Come on guys!”

He seemed in a hurry, Tails noted, so were Sofia and Maniac. But he followed anyways because he was tired, they still had to figure out how to approach Eggman’s base without this Gaia energy to mess up with the Chaos energy in their bodies.

…

The next day, almost 5 in the morning he woke up, quite early for him but Sonic was already gone from where he slept next to him hours prior.

He got up and found that the other rooms were empty and went to the dining hall, where he found Sonic near a fountain with children all around him, he could tell he was telling them a story for the way he was moving his arm for dramatic purposes.

“…and then, with good precision the princess shoot at the bad guy. The bad guy fell asleep and so the littlest sibling could carry him when they arrived at the house the older sibling saw that they had the job done and could finally rest.”

“What about the bad guy?” asked a child who was at Sonic’s right “Did he told them where he put their socks?”

Sonic laughed and rubbed the child’s hair.

“Not exactly, it turns out the bad guy had a cold so he needed the socks to warm his feet. When they discover this, the sister wanted to take care of him. They could not let him all alone and sick! So they told them he could keep their socks so he could be warm, they could buy some more.”

The children laughed and clapped, soon all of them where gone some were called by their parents to do their chores.

“It’s pretty early, why are you up?” asked Sonic when he approached.

“I couldn’t sleep” he answered. Sonic looked at him but he shrugged his shoulders and motioned to Tails to come with him.

“You haven’t eaten so, I’ll take you to the dining room. I think Knuckles is up too.”

They walked in silence, Tails with million questions in his head and Sonic just appreciating the view.

“Who were those kids?” he finally asked.

“This house is an open space, everyone can come and go. I stay here a few times when the town appears but nothing else really. The kids play here, and I tell them stories.”

They stood on silence as they walk down the corridor until Tails decided to speak.

“You seem distant these days” said the fox when they were about to enter the dining room after a silence.

“You think so?” asked Sonic and then he let out a sigh “Maybe you’re right. I think this is getting off in my head. I’ll go for a run.”

And he was gone. And evading his questions.

Again.


	9. The lost town

Instead of being angry at his brother for avoiding his questions, Tails had a conversation with the town’s engineer who seemed to know about chaos energy too but in a most mechanical way so he was helping to create something to protect their own so they could go to the base.

“Maybe we can create something that keeps this other energy away by increasing your own?” asked the engineer, Biar.

“But it may end up busting up our own…it could be dangerous” answered Tails “We don’t know what uncontrolled energy could do to our bodies”

“Maybe we can control it…like Eggman.”

Tails looked at the engineer, he was young, but everyone here seemed young. He was a wolf, or something similar. He had grey fur, big dark blue eyes, and glasses over his eyes.

He seemed terrified of using the word like Eggman was some kind of spirit who could come and haunt him.

“Mmhhh…what do you mean?”

“Well, maybe we can create something that can boost chaos a little, but contained that boost just enough to repel the other energy and give more chaos to sustain the body. Not enough to go psycho but enough to sustain the person itself and repel the energy.”

“That’s…not a bad idea,” said Tails “like a Power Ring, but with the effects of a chaos trap.”

“Something big then, to all of you?” asked again Biar, he was slowly understanding everything but he was not a scientist, he just built what was necessary to the town.

-No, something small so we can all carry on. Chaos traps need to be small and contained because chaos is naturally unstable. By limiting the size we can contain it, and add another source…like the power rings it would depend on the number of rings we can get”.

“Would it not be dangerous?” asked a new voice.

Biar straightened himself and smiled at the hedgehog.

“Maniac…”

“Sup, Biar. Hello, Tails.”

“Hi…”

“Well?” asked the hedgehog coming to stop by Tails side, looking at his eyes expectantly.

“Well, what?”

“Would it be dangerous to the body to make an endless cycle of energy?”

Tails seemed to snap out of his oblivion and answered.

“That’s why we are only going to have a limited time, I’m sure Sonic would like it if it’s as quick as possible” he grinned.

“Yeah…” said Manic almost laughing “he would. I’ll help you guys, in my work you have to be good with tools.”

Tails looked at him again, he was a thief but he wasn’t like Rouge. Maybe he will be of assistance, Sonic seemed to trust him…and maybe he would tell him what his brother has refused all these days.

“Thanks” he said and they get to work.

…

Five hours later when they were almost ready for lunch, their devices were almost ready, Tails had already talked to Sonic to see if he could go and find more rings. He took a break and settle down, admiring the view of the bustling city down below and all the mobians who were out enjoying the sun. Manic came with a basket in the arms and sat beside him.

“Well, Sonic wasn’t kidding when he said you were a genius, the idea is simply incredible,” he said “you have a great future, kid. I can see it clearly.”

“Thanks” said Tails in return, accepting an apple from the basket.

They stood in silence again.

“So, you know Sonic from a long time?” he asked casually.

He didn’t answer immediately, taking the question and thinking to throw it.”

“I have, for a very long time” he said and smiled amusingly “You can ask whatever you want, kid.”

“Wha-”

“I know you want to know something, and I also know that Sonic has not told you anything” he laughed quietly at Tails ashamed expression “He can be like that sometimes when he wants to protect someone.”

“He’s always trying to protect me…” he murmured “Sometimes he lets me do my thing, he lets me fight. But, sometimes he just gets scared and pushes me away. And he has been silent all these days like he’s avoiding me and I don’t know how to react to his silence…” he laughed a little “He was like that when we met, not even a word.”

Maniac hummed and nodded.

“Sonic alright, but sometimes is in the quiet when we heard the loudest things” he said in a calm tone, this took Tails by surprise, he could have never guessed that this guy was a philosopher “Well, you have any question?”

Tails remained silent and nodded, choosing his words.

“Miss Penthesilea said that this….magic we use to find you relays on Gaia, but doesn’t that mean its chaos energy too?”

“Mmhh…I don’t know for sure. Every living being has Chaos Energy inside them, it’s like the life force that comes from inside, but I think that Gaia is more like a spiritual entity. You can access its power if you have trained enough…or are very lucky, you used the…the energy around you and make it work for you. Within the limits of course.”

“You can use it too?” he asked, it was like a whole new science for him.

“To an extent, yes. You see I have practice for a long time, but I prefer to have my feet on the earth, literally. I specialize in ancient prana which is like the magic of the earth…stones, herbs, moon cycles, etc.”

“I still don’t get it…Magic doesn’t exist-”  

“Of course not” Tails looked at him with a troubled expression “Not in the way you think anyway, like cutting bodies in half and separating them…that’s illusion. Deception. Magic is the most primitive way of energy. It’s understanding that the universe has a plan…and you have to let it run its course.”

In all honesty, Tails didn’t believe it…not in the way of magic, of course, but he thought it was more like a science.

“Can it be used in technology?” Tails asked “if it can be used in technology it will improve our society more than it is now.”

“I believe it does...but it’s a pretty delicate union. Here on Mobius, energy is looked like a way of consuming, that can be used all over and over…prana, that’s how the energy it’s called, it may look endless, but it isn’t. It needs time to recharge once it’s used completely and it’s something that Mobius still doesn’t understand” his face turned solemn “and I don’t think they ever will.”

“You don’t seem to consider yourself a mobian…” said Tails, narrowing his eyes in suspicion “you said ‘they’, like…not considering yourself in it”

“I don’t think I do.”

And that’s it. No more explanation, he took the basket and left. Leaving Tails more confused than before, but not for Sonic…, Maniac.

“Hey, little buddy” called Sonic from the other door “Lunch is being served…uh, you okay?”

“Yeah…I’m good.”

Sonic looked at him and saw that he clearly wasn’t, he approached to him and sat down…almost in the same behavior than Maniac.

“Okay, spill…what’s up?”

“It’s...about Maniac “he said, it was at least half-true.

“What about him?” asked Sonic quickly “Is he troubling you? I can go and-”

“No!” Tails exclaimed startling Sonic “No, he’s not troubling me…I think” Sonic gave him a confused look “It’s just- he’s, agh…I don’t understand him…he’s pretty mysterious…and almost never gives me a direct answer.”

“Oh…yeah” smiled Sonic, he laughed a little and looked at the horizon “He can be like that… he has this introverted intuition, people often ask him for advice, even when they know what he does for a living, and he always answers them in mysterious riddles. It’s like he knows the outcome and just gives them a little push…he took that from his mother, she was the same.”

“Have you met her?” asked Tails, interested.

“Yeah, I have” he said in a melancholic way “she was good friends with mine so Sofia and Maniac used to play with me when we were kids, long before I met you” He stood and lend out a hand for Tails to take “Come on, I’m starving.”

Tails smiled and took it, almost immediately lifting himself in the air thanks to his namesakes.

“Did you finish those bracelets?” asked Sonic on the way to the dining hall.

“Yeah, they need a few more adjustments and it should be done, but it will only let us be no more than 30 minutes inside.”

“Cool, quick and clean…I like it.”

“I knew you would.”

Sonic smiled knowingly and start running, being following close by his little brother.


	10. About Magic

“So we decided that you are going to go in, the number of rings you brought was enough for us to make only one bracelet” said Tails while putting the object on his wrist, between the folds of his left glove “I will activate it now, so tell me if something feels weird or wrong.”

Sonic saw how the device came to life, the little light that was on the top shone a little golden light and he felt a buzz in his insides, the chaos energy going out and the boost of the rings made him lost stability and put a heavy and on Tails shoulder to compose himself.

“Are you okay?” asked the little genius.

“Ye- Yeah... I’m good” he breathed deeply and stood straight again. “I just need a few seconds…”

“It’s not painful, isn’t?” the fox asked in concern

“No, no…It surprised me...it like I have all the energy of rings boosting my chaos energy...but the energy can’t get out…It feels a little weird”- he made eye contact with Tails “but it doesn’t hurt or anything.”

Tails looked at him for a moment, not really believing but understanding that they had little time left. At least they thought so.

“Now remember,” he said giving his brother a pen drive “attach this to the main computer and I’ll hack the systems from here” he motioned to his Miles Electric.

“Back in a flash” he grinned and started running.

The closest he got, the more he could feel this other energy trying to enter his chaos energy’s accustomed body.

He wasn’t that unfamiliar with the energy, but it gave him the creeps now. Before he was asleep the first time when everything was music and laughter with his mother and sibling and then the second time, he would embrace the energy, the  _ prana _ because it was what the world was made of, what the  _ universe _ was made of…but here, it was rejected.

In Mobius you had the chaos energy and the emeralds and the Master Emerald, they gave life to the planet with the help of the Gaias in a more direct way, is the life source of the planet itself, and Sonic was awakened with an exceptional affinity to it and the prana was just on his way, now. He had been more time here than what he used to call home.

Finally approaching the base, he rushed inside. Everything was abandoned and destroyed thanks to their previous visits, he quickly found the main computer, Eggman had the habit of putting them in the highest place in the facility…Or in the undergrounds of it.

He connected the drive and touched his communicator to call Tails.

“All done, Tails.”

“Okay!” the fox answered brightly making the hedgehog smile “I’ll start hacking and transferring the information. How are you holding up?”

“I’m good, this device is incredible man. The energies are fighting but I’m in the middle so it’s just a weird sensation”.

He watched the screen, all kinds of information popping up and he had trouble seeing everything has they were coming and going between files. 20 minutes had already passed and he was getting bored, he had already run through the facility twice and ever had cleaned a bit. Tails said that there were a lot of things so he was taking his time on checking everything to make sure he didn’t miss anything valuable.

Sonic sat down and tried to sleep, but the constant noise of the machine would not let him, and he knew he could not lead the device in the computer and risk the chance of Eggman coming back to retrieve something.

But then, something caught his eyes. It was a picture, so he quickly touches the screen before it was gone and tosses it to the side. It was more like a portrait, and there were 2 hedgehogs here, male and female.

The male had blue fur, pink eyes with markings beneath his eyes. He wore a suit with a cape, both white. He had adoration written all over his face while touched the female forehead with his own, a little smile on his face, completely ignoring the camera like all that he needed was this other hedgehog in front of him. The female was smiling brightly to the camera, she had purple fur and bright green eyes with the same marks under her eyes, she was almost crying but had a smile nonetheless, and she was wearing a red cape and a white dress. And then Sonic noticed that both had crowns on their heads, and only barely, he could see a golden cuff on both of each other’s right wrists. 

He lowered the picture and saw a description.

_ “The Princess and the newly crowned Prince Consort would like to thank everyone who took part in the celebrations of their wedding yesterday evening. _

_ They feel so lucky to have been able to share their day with all those gathered at the Great Altar and also all those who watched the engagement on broadcast service at home and across the world _ .”

Sonic took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. These were his parents.

His mother, Aleena, and…his father? He totally forgot that his mother had a husband.

_ “Why the Egg-head have this on his computer? _ ”Sonic asked himself, it shouldn’t be.

He had a bad sensation on the chest and this time it wasn’t the energies fighting, he then started searching in the remaining files but found nothing alike, he lowered his hands on the panel with a groan.

“I’m done” the voice of Tails startled him.

“Okay” said Sonic looking at the image again, he unplugged the drive and lowered himself to these shoes. He quickly opened a compartment and took another pen drive. He quickly plugs it to the computer and transfer the image “I’m on my way.”

“And just in time, you only have 5 minutes before the times up” said Tails.

Sonic looked at the bracelet, a little red dot shining repeatedly on his wrist, his brother was right. When did the time pass so fast?

He unplugged the drive and with a little hesitation, hoping there were no more images that had escaped him while he looked over the picture of his parents’  _ wedding _ , he ran outside to his friends.

…

Sonia walked down in the town’s main road, admiring all the crystals hanging in the houses, the windows, trees and basically all structures. Along with Manic, she wanted to visit their nursery room.

They entered the room, and it was just as they remembered. Round ceiling and round decorated walls, with the same crystals that were on the town decorating the place. The 3 cradles in the wall were impeccable, with curtains being held by jewels to the walls and their forms carved on the wood of the front of each one, representing them.

They sat quietly in front of them, none of them said anything.

“Do you miss her?” asked Sonia suddenly without looking at her brother.

“I do” he didn’t miss the beat, but he paused before asking “You think she’s alive?”

This time, Sonia looked at him. His brother had surely changed these years, he still had his kleptomania and his sarcastic comments once in a while, his street accent was almost gone. He wanted a new life…and he got one. Without guns, death, and sickness, without stealing to survive, stealing to eat, or the fear that you’ll be caught and robotized.

“I ...don’t know” she answered slowly “I want to be optimistic, and think she is but…I honestly don’t know.”

“Do you want her to be?”

“…”

His brother, well both of them for the matter, had the irritating ability to ask just the right questions in her opinion. Both had grown in difficult places the first time, Manic more than Sonic, and she was the lucky one who had a comfortable bed to sleep, a meal every morning and -- and that’s why they knew how to deal with people. With real people, not some gold-like people form the high society she was accustomed to.

“Let’s get going…” she said finally “Sonic probably wants to leave now before midnight, and I’m sure he wants to talk to Mayor Whinnyham about the prana going nuts and fighting the chaos energy. Maybe they notice something on the Power Stone…”

Manic nodded but said nothing.

The power stone, he remember it very well, it was big and long in shape, like an inverted Chaos Emerald, but with a completely different energy. It was what allowed the town to visit Mobius every four years.

When his brother and his friends returned, he found himself explaining to Knuckles and Tails why there was some kind of chaos emerald in the middle of the town.

“It feels completely wrong” cried Knuckles with his arms at his sides emphasizing his statement “It feels like…like that prana you mentioned but somehow it’s not affecting us! And it seems to be stable! I simply don’t understand!”

“Maybe it doesn’t affect us because we are not from here?” asked Tails. He took a glance at his brother, he was at the stairs of the city hall chatting with Sonia.

“The Power Stone only affects the city and its environment. Not necessarily the people from here or outside” answered Maniac “we believe it’s what it makes the town appear every 4 years.”

“But  _ how _ does the town appears and disappears?” asked the fox.

“I don’t think that we’ll be here long enough to find out buddy” said Sonic approaching them “it’s almost noon, and we have to leave before midnight.”

Tails sighed.

“I’ll let running the data we found on the workshop computer then” the fox seemed eager to start.

Knuckles looked at Sonic and noticed he had a small frown and his eyes were hard…but just slightly.

And again, he found himself wondering how much his friend had changed and how their relationship has changed through all these years.

Before the…second sleep? He heard Sonic called like that; he was always grumpy. Got angry at everything and barely smiled if he wasn’t with his siblings or playing music, and because of the constants battles, deaths and sleepless nights, he had tough eyes, always seeing…but not seeing at all.

“We better get going if we don’t want to arrive in the morning” said Sonic again, and he made a gesture to Sofia and Maniac “You’re welcome to stay at the house if you want.

“Thanks man” answered Maniac. And his sister smiled and nodded in response.

“I’ll go announce our departure to the Mayor” she said and left.

They stood in silence until Knuckles took Tails arm and guide him out see if they had everything to leave, much to the young genius protest.

“A burden shared is often a burden halved” said Maniac suddenly, making Sonic looked at him weirdly.

“What?”

“What’s so heavy?”

“…nothing” the blue hero still didn’t look at him.

“Sure.”

Silence again.

“Did you talk to the Mayor about the energies?” asked Maniac instead, if his brother didn’t want to talk about it he won’t force him.

“I did, he said that they have been having nothing that troubles the prana… he asked a few Magus on the matter as well...and nothing” he let out a sigh and scratched his ear “At least they are safe here.”

“If the prana is crashing with the chaos energy then it must be something affecting the core” said Maniac “The prana is something spiritual…and has existed peacefully with the chaos energy for centuries. Why has it started now?”

“Eggman’s for sure behind this…and I can’t wait to make rotten egg.”

Maniac snorted.

“Oh, my gods…that was so lame…”

“Shut up, Maniac.”

…

When they arrived at the Workshop nearly at 1 am, they were all pretty tired, and so Maniac and Sofia slept together on Tails bed, while the genius fox was in Sonic’s bed.

Knuckles took one of the couches but Sonic himself, stood on the roof because the weather was nice outside. In all honesty, the ride home wasn’t long, barely two hours in the Tornado but he found himself restless when he arrived at the house aside from what his body was telling him.

He looked at the stars and was about to fall asleep when he felt the shake.

First, he thought it was the air currents making the house tremble, or even his own body, but then he heard something break inside the house, a glass maybe, and he knew it was an earthquake.

“GUYS! It’s an earthquake!” he screamed, not sure y they could hear him. He quickly stood up and gaze to the horizon, the moon shone upon everything and he could see the earth and the trees shaking, some of them falling and even the groundbreaking.

“ _ This is nowhere a firm structure” _ he thought and quickly jumped to the ground, with a little difficulty he ran to the door and open it, he stood in the doorframe and saw Knuckles looking at him with an annoying expression but didn’t say anything.

After eternal seconds, and when he was sure that the shaking was over he raced to the stairs into his room, Tails was on the door frame, with Sofia and Maniac on the other side on his.

“Everyone okay?” asked Sonic, mostly looking at Tails who looked a little uncertain. The two hedgehogs nodded and murmured ‘yes’ almost at the unison.

The fox smiled a little and nodded going back to the room. Reaching for his Miles Electric and followed Sonic to the living room along with the siblings.

Knuckles had the tv on, and the news was only that the earthquake was not only in the Mystic Ruins but seemed to be simultaneously all over the globe.

“Nothing major has happened since the earthquake that was felt just minutes ago- said the host- but we asked the population to remain calm and wait for the official reports, and we—”

“I know what happened” said Tails suddenly, still looking at the tablet in his hands.

“Well?” said Knuckles when he muted the TV.

“It’s not natural, the energy-”

“The prana” interrupted Maniac, and Tails looked at him with a tired expression. He murmured a ‘sorry’ and let Tails continue.

“The  _ prana  _ presented a peak during the movement, but it wasn’t that noticeable,” he said “that’s why we didn’t feel it. But it was there… and I think if there’s something making it this direct to cause an earthquake, then…” he kept quiet a bit.

“Then what?” asked Sonic. The fox looked at him with a serious expression.

“I think…I think someone is mining Mobius’s core.”


	11. Discoveries

“Mining the core?” asked Knuckles “Are you serious?”

“Not entirely, but what else could it be?” Tails said in his defense.

“You know?” said Maniac “I was thinking something like that yesterday…if it’s crashing with the chaos energy when they had existed in peace for centuries, it must be something more direct. But-” he stopped mid-sentence, and his eyes opened in realization “That’s it!”

“What?” asked Sofia at his side. Looking confused at his brother’s sudden outburst.

“That’s why Eggman was looking for me!” he said, his voice full of emotion, but he quieted down “He wants to know how to mine prana…”

Silence took over the room, as everyone processed the information. Slowly Knuckles took the word.

“But…how can you mine something that doesn’t have a physical form?”

Sofia looked at Knuckles with a troubled expression, then at Maniac who looked at her with the same expression.

“It’s…not easy” she said, putting her hands on her lap “But as chaos energy, there can be a physical manifestation of them, like Chaos Emeralds. But, unlike the Chaos Emerald who is rare and there’s only 7 of them plus the Master, there’s a lot of manifestations of Prana on rocks.”

“Mobians and humans, cut stones to unlock their beauty” said Maniac and smiled a little “We cut them to unlock their _power._ Each stone helps our craft by amplifying our abilities to a certain extent.”

“You know how to cut them?” asked Tails, slowly putting the pieces together.

Maniac only nodded.

“Perhaps that’s why he wanted me…” the pink-eyed hedgehog said slowly “He wanted me to tell him how to mine a great number of stones to unlock their power. But I don’t remember telling him anything about it…

“Maybe you don’t remember” said Sonic who stood in silence at the conversation, finally spoke “but if this theory is correct you _ did _ tell him something. Or maybe you didn’t and Eggman kinda pull it out of your brain or something”

Sonic didn’t mean to say something rude, but for someone who had eyes as expressive as Maniac, it was easy to see he took it badly.

“I mean, it wasn’t your fault but it did happen” said Sonic noticing that he screwed up “So now, as you know more of this than us, what could he obtain by mining the core more than power?”

Maniac slowly and unnoticed took a deep breath.

“He might destabilize the planet” he said with a hand in his chin, Sofia looked at him by the corner of her eye, her expression unreadable. “It takes years to learn how to cut stone without damaging the “veins” so to speak, of it. Every stone is different, and it requires a lot of skill to be able to cut them.”

“Well” Sonic said with a yawn “I know it could be the best if we go to the epicenter of all these earthquakes but with all the commotion the people could get scared by seeing us there…”

Sonic looked at Tails, the kit had sleep written all over his face, but his eyes were locked on the screen.

The other occupants of the room looked at the fox, understanding that at least Tails should sleep a bit more…and them too.

“Okay” said Knuckles “We will start searching in the morning.

“Great!” Sonic almost jumped from his seat, and took Tails in his arms, who yelped and demanded to be put down.

“You don’t have to do this!” exclaimed Tails embarrassed and started kicking with his namesakes Sonics legs “I’m not a kid anymore.”

“No, but you’re 12 and I like to bother” he took the Miles Electric from his hand and run to their bedroom.

A few minutes later he has back in the living room.

“He passed soon after he touched the bed.”

They stood in silence, no one was sure what to say now.

“If he’s mining the core then…” started Sonia “Then, as Maniac said it may destabilize the planet completely, it could tear it apart like when Dark Gaia emerged from it.”

“Maybe it’s part of his plan” said Knuckles “When he released Dark Gaia it must have damaged the core, and so now he can complete another part of his plan”.

“But why?” asked Sonic with a frown, who now was seated where Tails had been “What does he gain? Does he even  _ know _ how to use them?”

Everyone shook their heads, not sure how to respond. Sonic grabbed the bridge of his nose and stood.

“I’ll go to sleep” he said, looking suddenly more tired “We will solve this in the morning as we go to the site.”

…

The epicenter was just above a village, not more than 50 people and all of them seemed to be the same species or the subspecies of it, all were felines.

_ Odd _ , though Tails, as they approach the outskirts of the village. Not a lot of Mobians choose to live this way but some prefer to stay together and protect their ancestries and their old rules so they could enforce their beliefs.

With firm pace, and some strange looks from the villagers they made their way to what it seemed to be the city hall …or the remains of it. A lot of people, noticed Tails later, were not felines and were commenting on the streets, they had backpacks, water bottles and such, they looked like travelers.

The building was in ruins, only the main entrance and a few pillars were standing. It seemed to be the cost of whatever Eggman’s doing.

There was a lion directing people, his mane was almost grey, and his fur was decaying to the same color, he had gentle dark brown eyes. He quickly saw them coming and approach them.

“I’m sorry if you came to register as an arrival to the festival but we are having a few troubles as you see” said the Lion. He turned to Maniac and a spark of recognition gleamed in his eyes “Maniac?”

Maniac turned to the old lion, first he was confused, but then his eyes gleamed with excitement.

“Faust? Oh, man! It’s so good to see you! I didn’t know you lived here” he immediately hugs the man before introducing them to his friends “Guys, this is Faust, I met him a while ago while doing a job. This man sure saved my quills.”

“Hey” said Sonic with a grin of his own, they all greeted him and he started to walk to the area.

“We were wondering if you’ll let us check the place of the earthquake?” asked Tails. Faust looked at him, a silent question in his eyes “We are investigating a relation between Eggman and these earthquakes, and since this is the epicenter…we want to take a look if you don’t mind?” he said with a quick innocent smile.

The elder lion, with a peaceful smile, turned to look at Manic who nodded and smiled too.

“Of course” he said “What do you expect to find?”

“We are not sure yet”  answered Sofia “But I believe we will know when we see it.”

Tails nodded, and after Faust did the same gesture they all approach the remains of the city hall.

In all honesty, it wasn’t what Tails expected, after all, he didn’t expect a  _ hole _ in the ground, and a deep hole at that, he couldn’t even see the end.

All the lions had retired from the area, and only Faust stayed at the entrance to make sure they didn’t fall.

“That’s not how earthquakes work” said Maniac kneeling over the edge and tossing a rock. They waited for the sound at the end but nothing. It was definitely deep.

“If this was Eggman’s doing how It pierced through the hall?” asked Knuckles.

“Maybe it started somewhere else?” asked Sonic in return and turned to ask Faust “Did something weird happened here in the last few days?”

The senile lion seemed to think and his eyebrows rose.

“Yes, actually” he said “the last few days we’ve been hearing some type of drum in the mountains.”

“A drum?” asked Sonic.

“Maybe it’s some kind of drill” said Tails slowly, and looked at the lion “Could you show us the way?”

“My son can take you there” he said and added with a chuckle “I’m far too old for those adventures.”

The lion walked outside and motioned to a young lion, with a bright red mane and blue eyes to approach him. He spoke quietly with him and turned around to face them.

“This is my son, Askari” he said motioning the younger lion who inclined his head in respect “he will lead you to the mountain where the sound came from.”

“Please follow me” said Askari with a gentle smile “it should only be a few minutes.”

They soon approach the base of the mountain. And after Sonic made a few runs around it, they found a huge cavern with a lot of machinery and a trail of lights showing the way deep down.

“Who wants to go to the center of the world?” asked Sonic jokingly.

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Sonic followed by Tails started to walk (in Sonic’s case, to jog) to hole.

Before entering and following Sonia and Knuckles who already had entered, Maniac turned to Askari and gave him a round metal plaque.

“Thank you for showing us the way, and please have this in return” said Maniac. Askari smiled softly and with a knowing eye, he received the artifact and also, put a hand on Maniac’s shoulder.

“It was no problem, my father may be thinking of letting the festival go on tonight, please let your friends know.”

With a nod of Maniac, Askari left and the pink-eyed hedgehog turned to the entrance of the cave and into the darkness.


	12. Investigations

“There isn’t that much of chaos energy or prana, even if we are supposedly approaching the core of the planet, but I don’t really think Eggman made it that far” said Tails while looking at his Electric.

Sonic who had a lantern thanks to Knuckles (always prepare for an adventure) was leading the way down hummed a response, but after that statement only came silence, and when Knuckles almost tripped over his feet and let a yell of frustration, they stopped too.

“What is it?” asked Sofia.

Knuckles looked at her and then to Sonic.

“Turn off that” he said annoyingly, Tails who had his Electric out turn it off quickly.

“Are you sure?” asked Sonic “I don’t want to fall because I can’t see.”

“It’s okay” said Tails with a smile “I can still see in the dark.”

Sonic looked at his brother with a smile and with a glance to Knuckles, who nodded firmly, he turned off the light.

“Now what?” asked Sonia in the pitch darkness.

But before someone could answer, light illuminated their path. It was a green, luminescent but warm light, which was given by little dots in the roof and on the sides of the tunnel.

“Woah!” they all said in awe.

“I just thought that if they are anything like back in the Island, they have enough energy to illuminate the path for us”

A fainted light that appeared at the far end of the cavern caught their eyes almost simultaneously. They only glanced at each other, except Sonic who only run ahead before running themselves.

It was a huge open space, you couldn’t’ even see the ceiling, there were all kinds of crystals, smalls and big; but in the middle of all there was some kind of inverted drill, with 4 legs supporting it and it carried a strange yellow liquid in the container.

“It ruins all the aesthetic of the place” said Sofia with annoyance clearly in her voice “What is this liquid?”

“It feels like ..prana” said Knuckles after a moment, he glanced sideways to Maniac who nodded and approached the liquid.

“But it also has bits of chaos energy in it” he said “What do you think Tails?”

“It’s..” he hesitated while holding his Miles Electric at the drill “It has a great amount of prana, but it also has a lot of chaos energy. They are coexisting, but…it’s not that stable. We should probably not touch it.”

They stood far from it immediately, but the sudden movement made the liquid move and Maniac gasp, and also made Sonic took his brother’s arm and pulling him away from the machine.

Inside the container, one part of the upper body seemed to drop itself to the liquid almost like a water drop itself, which started to make the yellow substance glow into a fainted and sick green. With it, the drill started to shake making the entrance of the cavern being blocked by all the rocks falling.

“That’s not good” said Sonic looking around. Rocks and crystals alike started falling and breaking from the movement, but in the dark pitched ceiling, nothing came from above “the ceiling! Nothing’s coming from it!”

“What?” asked Sonia above all the noise.

Tails glanced at the liquid which was now a sick, glowing green.

“It’s gonna explode!” he yelled at his brother with worried eyes. Sonic looked at Maniac who had a small crystal in his hand.

“Is it enough?” asked Sonia, putting Tails’ attention on his pink-eyed brother.

“What is he gonna do?- thought Tails with a bit of exasperation.

“I’m not sure, it’s not refined so the result could be…not what we expect.”

“It’s better than staying down here” hurried Sonic.

While Maniac closed his eyes, Sonic made a quick run to pick up Knuckles who was trying -and failing- to clear the entrance. The crystal slowly glowed in his fist, and while he opened his eyes to look at it, Tails (with his excellent vision, otherwise he thought he would never see it), saw how a little golden ring formed slowly on the hedgehog’s pupil and something like a line glowing from beneath his glove.

Maniac opened his mouth, and with sudden spam on his hand which now had traces of light, almost like a circuit, he talked.

_ “Akarta, transport us _ ” He said with difficulty, but almost instantly the crystal shone with so much light that everyone had to cover their eyes, and with the sound of a crystal broken like glass, everyone felt as their stomachs were being smashed and in a beam of light they all disappeared from the cave.

…

Their stomachs found themselves in the same place, and with a bit of dizziness, their feet touched the ground.

Tails bumped into his namesakes, as well as Sonia.

Sonic and Knuckles, who managed to land on their feet quickly catch Maniac who was stumbling on his feet and about to land on his face.

“Maniac!” Sofia quickly recovered and went to his side, his fur was pale and sweat running across his face, his eyes were almost closed and his breathing was strong and noisy. Sofia touched his brother’s cheeks, he seemed to have a fever, and she quickly stood up with a firm look.

“Sonic” the blue hedgehog looked at her a bit uneasy “go find Faust. Tell him what happened and tell him that we need a room for Maniac.”

“Sure thing!” he said and disappeared.

Meanwhile, Tails watched as Maniac was lifted to Knuckles’ shoulders and looked around, they were behind some building and a plate made of steel was just beside one of the trees that were in the place. He slowly pick it up and he could feel the warmth coming from it, he wasn’t sure what it was but the noise of running quickly distracted his mind to notify that Sonic was back.

“He has a place at his guest house, just outside the village” he told them. He looked at Sofia who smiled and made a motion to follow Knuckles who was already on his way.

Sonic meet his glance and give him a smile, which he returned and started to rotate his tails so that he could fly and follow Sonic from the air and see the house. He quickly noticed how the village was bustling from the people who had arrived in the meantime they were away, everyone seemed concerned by the city hall, but as the festivities were relocated they quickly shrugged it off. Kids were running to help their parents, and Tails noticed how the village was now decorated with gold and silver, little trees were painted in silver and candles began to be lit as the sun began to set.

_ “Did we really take that long?”  _ Thought Tails as he descended in the entry of the house, he looked over the clock, almost 6 pm and it was already sunset, but now that he thought about it, he had heard of places that changed the hour to benefit the ecosystem or something.

He noticed as Sonic sat on one of the chairs heavily, which was just outside of the room where they put Maniac, he was only tired, said the doctor who came to check on him, he seemed to have exhausted himself.

After hearing this, Sonic gave his thanks to the doc and put himself to sleep in the tree outside Maniac’s window, giving his brother a smile.

_ “He seems tired _ ” thought Tails, when he thought of his brother, that smile he gave him, was very forced and Tails was now able to think all of what has happened recently. It only has been a week since Sonic called Rouge and met Sofia and his brother Maniac, who creep Tails sometimes, now even more after what he did, was it chaos control? No, he didn’t say the words, neither had an emerald and using his own could have killed him quickly.

Knuckles seemed oblivious; but as Sonic, he knew something and refused to tell Tails. Had he always known about this prana? As Sonic? ...As Amy? Tails knew she had a tarot deck of cards, and maybe that counted as magic, or was it deception? No, maybe it  _ was _ magic alright, she always seemed to find Sonic.

And, is this prana running out? He could faintly remember Maniac saying something about it. Was Eggman’s plan all along? To exterminate this energy using Dark Gaia and Chip’s energy? But why now? Why now is he being tossed into this community who has been just behind the noses of all mobians for years?

He got so many questions but no answers to them.

…

_ The blue-eyed hedgehog with the same color of fur, with a golden crown, sat peacefully at the ethereal room, his heart-beat quickly decaying but never stopping. _

_ The eternal song rung on his ears, and he lazily opened his eyes when he heard the noise of heels in the quiet room. _

_ “My Queen,” he said with a smile in his voice but not in his face, as he didn’t have one- Aleena… _

_ She looked into his eyes with pity and sadness, she tightened the grip on the sword she was carrying  _

_ “my King…this is-… why has this happened?” _

_ “It was nothing that could have been prevented…” he said with a tired voice “Have you done everything? Is it ready?” _

_ “Yes…it will be closed once I step out” she said with reluctance “Are you certa-” _

_ “I was briefly dreaming” he said cutting her off. _

_ “A dream?” _

_ “I do not have dreams very often” he seemed to smile “it was an invaluable experience.” _

_ The queen’s eyes filled with tears as her shoulders shivered, but she refused to let them fall, she took a deep breath and release it slowly. _

_ “Then…please rest without worries. If you close your eyes again, you will surely continue dreaming where you left off.” _

_ “To continue the dream...Can I have the same dream?” _

_ “Yes, I have experienced it before” she closed her eyes tightly with a pained expression “If you wish for it…I’m sure you’ll have the same dream.” _

_ “I see you are a very knowledgeable person. You always know what to say.” _

_ Nothing was said in those moments, but suddenly the Queen opened her eyes noticed that the eyes of the King were closed and his breathing had stopped altogether. The white throne pulsed slowly, resembling the heart of the one sitting in it. She cut a sob on her throat and before she could cry, she turned on her hills and walked out of the room, sealing it forever with a loud noise. _

_ Almost like a rumble of thunder striking down in the clouds. _

…

He opened his eyes slowly, there was a noise ringing in his ears, was it a song? No, someone was talking, but he knew that voice.

He regretted it immediately when he opened his eyes, as the light pierced his pink, jewel-like- eyes and cause him to groan in displeasure and try to move his sore body. Another wrong move as his whole body trembled for the effort and got the attention of the voice.

“Manic?” asked the voice “Are you awake?”

Maniac looked at the person with his blurry vision, she noticed as blue eyes- the same as in the dream- looked at him with worry.

“I’m good” he said with his voice flat, but he pushed away from the discomfort “But my body feels so heavy. The transportation spell took more than expected.”

Sonia, who he could see clearly now, let out a sigh of relief and sat on the chair beside the bed.

“Where am I?” he asked as he glanced at the full moon outside.

“We are at Faust’s house” she said crossing one leg over another laying more in the chair “more specifically, in his guest room. He let us stay here while you recover, and also called the village’s doctor to check on you. He said that you were just exhausted, and should rest for the night and tomorrow you will be fine.”

He looked at her expectantly, and after holding his stare, she drops her shoulders and looked at his brother with a smirk.

“He also said that if you woke up in time, you could go to the festival.”

_ “Festival?” _ He thought and realized that with a bit of concentration he could hear music bumping down in the village, not far away. People laughing and cheering, made him smile and start to get up from the bed where he was.

“I would like to go” he said and Sonia stood from the chair with a knowing expression and help him up “What is the festival about?”

“The Moon, for now” she said as they got out of the room into the living and out of the house with a slow but steady pace “Festival of Transition, they called it. To celebrate the relationship between the sun and the moon, and how the spirits and the elements help them each day. They will be celebrating the sun at sunrise.”

“That’s nice” he said after a while as they saw everyone around the fire and Faust ready to commence the celebration.

He was dressed in casual attire, and his expression was far more relaxed than he was before, all the villagers and even the newly arrive had the same expression.

“Welcome, everyone! As every two years, we have gathered here to celebrate the entities of the sun and the moon, whom –as Gaia – has helped us through the years granting us with energy for ourselves, the animals and our craft” he smiled greatly and Manic noticed as Tails’ ears straighten about this, and Sonic’s brow elevated in a very clear way of amusement “We welcome the new and remember the old, tonight we celebrate the moon, and with the sunrise, we celebrate the day! Let the festivities begin!”

The cheer break from the people and the music and chatter began to quickly fill the air.

Sonic quickly began to greet everyone who approaches him, instantly recognizing him from his heroics, and he began to introduce them to Tails, but the fox quickly was taken away by his curiosity when he spotted the sibling sitting a few tables away.

“Are you alright, Maniac?” he said with worry in his sky-blue eyes as he approached.

Maniac smiled softly at the fox, and nodded in return, with no verbal answer.

“He’s fine, just tired” said Sofia for his brother, and slowly raised an eyebrow with a grin in her lips “Although he always had a thing for parties.”

“What can I say?” he shrugged with an easy smile “I like a good party...especially ones like this.”

He gestured to where the people were dancing at the rhythm of the unknown song to Tails’ ears, but he found the familiarity and the warmth of this place starting to make his way to his heart.

“Well,” said Sonia standing up with Maniac “I’ll go find someone who wants to dance with me, and you” he gestured Maniac “don’t stay too late, you need rest.”

She gave a kiss in the eyebrow and left. Maniac sighed and after saying “see ya” to the fox, he started to walk towards a jaguar who was in charge of the drinks.

He looked at him with a puzzled expression, and on the corner of his eye he saw Sonic dancing with Sonia, the two of them dancing and singing to the unknown song, and much like everyone else oblivious to everything surrounding them.

“What’s in your mind?”

Faust looked down at Tails with a warm smile, gesturing the fox to sit where the siblings had been previously.

“Sonic came up to me earlier to notice me that the cave where you were has collapsed and he also mentioned that you didn’t know much of our craft...along with the echidna, but he doesn’t want to listen” he said with a calm tone. Tails looked at him, expecting the answer “And he also told me about Penthesilea offer to teach you the basics, but I believe I can be of some assistance to that, I don’t believe you’ll be seeing her in a while”

He gestured with his hand to the party in front of them.

“Our craft bases itself on the four primary elements of this planet” he said “Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. It’s what we all learn in the beginning and are the most basic foundations. They are decided by your personality mostly, but of course, it’s something you have or don’t.”

He gestured to Sofia, dancing fiercely with a man of almost twice her age, seemingly having forgotten about Sonic.

“Fire is the element of power, the people gifted with it have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.”

He then gestured to Maniac who, even when it was clear he was tired, was helping a lady move some boxes to the bar.

“Earth is the element of substance, those who are gifted with it are diverse and strong, they are persistent and enduring.”

And surprisingly he gestured to Sonic, who was laying with some kids on the ground, telling stories just as he did in Mobodoon.

“He, even when he doesn’t consider himself one of us, could be represented by the Air” Tails snorted “the air people mostly detached themselves from worldly concerns until they affect those around them and found peace and freedom on their own will.”

He stayed silent, letting Tails process all the information.

“What about water?” he asked then, noticing the missing element.

“Water is the element of change. Those who have it are capable of adapting to many things, they have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.”

He then looked at Tails, with solemn and firm eyes.

“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places, young fox, if it was taken from only one place it becomes rigid and stake, and you cannot bend it to benefit yourself with it.”

“Of course not!” said Tails “I would never use Chip’s energy for that purpose.”

“Chip?” blinked the man in confusion.

Tails shuddered and avoid the old man’s gaze.

“It’s a long story” he offered reluctantly, hoping the lion would drop the subject. Which in this case, he did. He just glances at him once and redirected his gaze to the party and to the 3 female lions who were singing in perfect harmony.

_ “I’ve been waiting impatiently for a night with a full moon _ ” they said as they gestured to the moon above and started to dance _ “I’ve been practicing my dancing in front of the mirror…Decorating my yellow dress with embroidery. Picking white flowers to put in my hair.” _

_ “Festival of the moon! Revolve in a ring, polka. Close your eyes, we’re repeating it again.” _

_ “Till I reach you, I’ll keep on with triumphant steps that echo in the sound of the flute…” _

Tails saw Sonic in the corner of his eye, dancing with one of the singers, but he seemed more relaxed than before as he sang the chorus with the whole village and tourists who somehow seemed to know the song as well.

The music seemed to involve everyone in some kind of party ecstasies and soon, the fox cub found himself in the arms of his brother little pass over 4 hours later when the clock hit 10 pm.

He totally missed that his brother had danced with the siblings and they were soon engulfed in tears as the songs and the people alike covered them in their embrace, hiding them from view.


	13. Songstress

Sonic sat alone at the top of one of the trees in front of the village. He quietly watched as Sonia kept dancing with a few children and Maniac had retired himself to Faust’s house to sleep. It was almost midnight and he could have sworn that he saw Knuckles drinking cider with some men’s at the made-up bar just outside one of the houses.

He turned his sight to the base of the tree and saw Faust with two drinks in hand. He silently motioned Sonic with one of them, and the blue hedgehog smiled and went down.

“I thought you would like some company” said the old lion as they sat at the tree’s base. He passed the drink to the hedgehog, who accepted with a muttered “thanks” and took a sip “I never thought I’ll see you and your siblings again.”

Sonic looked at him and nodded.

“I don’t recall meeting you” he said sincerely “but you do seem familiar.”

“How many lions did you meet at Robotropolis?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

Sonic just looked at him and soon something clicked in his head.

“You’re part Cyrus’ pride! he said with amazement in his voice “B-but how?!”

“I’m his great-grandfather, child” said the old lion smiling at the enthusiasm in the voice of the hedgehog “As for your question, I’m not sure of myself. We just woke up here and knew this was our place but we still remember everything that it once was.”

Sonic looked at him with a troubled expression and gazed at the party in front of him.

“We don’t know” said the lion after a moment.

“What?” Sonic seemed taken back for this statement.

“I know what you were thinking, young hero” said Faust “He’s not here.”

Sonic’s ears dropped slightly.

“Do not fret” said the old lion with a gentle smile “Our family has a deep connection with the Root, and we haven’t sensed him returning to it either.”

“So he’s not dead?” asked Sonic “Cyrus might be alive?”

“He might. But he might also be robotized. We cannot be sure”

They stood in silence once again. Sonic didn’t speak, neither did Faust.

“No matter how far he is” said Sonic slowly “you still sense him?”

“Yes,” said the lion, and with a sip of his drink as he stood and started walking “if you want some answers, you might want to pay your debt to Kaisa. Or ask Lady Rose through her cards. Neither of them will answer you directly but it will be an answer nonetheless.”

Sonic stood there, a bit shocked with the sudden opinion, and as he watched the lion walk towards his home, he started thinking about Amy and her cards, trying to avoid his thought on Kaisa.

He knew Amy’s family was part of the craft, but he never thought of Amy as part of it too. The Rose family had been at least 3 generations in Mobius, so he doubted that Amy or her parents knew much about the Robotnik or his mother. But his grandparents, if they were still alive, they might know.

Still, his thought came back to Kaisa, a friend he made a few years ago after she saved his life in Sandopolis, the debt was that he could ask anything to her compass, in exchange for a delivery of hers, non-questions asked.

He already had delivered what she asked for, not that he was proud, but he did.

He stood and went to bed, and woke up the next day missing completely the sun celebration at sunrise, but with a determinate expression to find Kaisa and some answers on Eggman.

…

The city of Khauta of was known for its Opera House, the “Golden Flower Opera House”, and it was a gift to the town by Penthesilea Vespera for it’s rising business of musicians and artist of all kinds who started to appear in the city attracted by the golden flowers that appear in spring, making the city glow in the day.

Tails, who had never gone to an Opera, found it interesting, a bit bored if he was honest but interesting. Sonic, Sofia and he went to the Opera, Knuckles had decided to return to the island for while and make sure nobody had climbed to it now that it was on the land, and Maniac went back home to rest a few more days. Sonic tried to persuade Sofia that she should rest too, because of the injuries that Eggman did to her, but she didn’t back down and stated that she needed to see the Opera, as she hadn’t had the chance to see it yet.

Sonic explained that an acquaintance of him, Kaisa the Eagle had helped him some while ago and she possessed some kind of device to help know the truth about anything and that she worked here as a songstress, Tails didn’t understand what he meant by that but thought that if they were wrong, they at least were distracted a bit for the Opera.

The stage was big with the background being the backyard of an aristocrat in a distant time Tails didn’t get at the beginning. He had started to fall asleep when an eagle with a beautiful gown dark gown with golden embroidery resembling flowers come to stage. She sang in a language Tails did not recognize but he saw at the edge of his eyes that some people in the audience were crying, and when he felt someone tremble at his side, he notices that Sofia had started crying.

He felt awkward looking at her so he went in motion to let Sonic know instead, but he found the hedgehog looking intensely at the eagle singing, his eyes filled with nostalgia and a small smile in his lips. Tails looked at his brother then at Sofia and then at the eagle in stage again, feeling life if he concentrated enough he would understand why everyone seemed so touched about.

Tails noticed the music rising again at the hand of the Chief Conductor, was it called? and the singer raised a hand at the audience, the pain in her face gave Tails goosebumps, she sang like affirming something, like she was trying to convince the audience of her innocence or her point of view.

The song ended abruptly, and just after seconds of silence, applause broke into the room, almost everyone stood and Sonic let out a whistle which was followed for more. The eagle graciously bowed to the crowd as the curtain was being brought down, and the chief conductor bowed as well his eyes fixed firmly on someone’s eyes in the crowd, he quickly broke contact and walk out of the stage and into the backstage followed closely by the musicians.

“Let’s go” said Sofia cleaning her tears, and smiling at Sonic “before her dressing room gets too crowded. “

The knock on the door was quickly answered by a soft, “Come in”, and as they opened the door, the same eagle lady Tails saw earlier was in front of a vanity mirror taking her tiara and other ornaments of her hair.

She looked at them and smile softly, she stood and embraced both Sonic and Sofia in a hug, taking them by surprise but making them smile and laugh a bit. Once they separated themselves from her, Sonic motioned to Tails, who was smiling awkwardly in the side.

“This is my pal, Tails” said Sonic, and the lady whose Tails didn't know her name embrace him too, making him feel awkward as he tensed in her hug, she quickly separated herself from him and smiled down.

But, before she could open her mouth, the Chief Conductor, and owl with black and gray feathers came in.

“Good work tonight, Elzio” she said smiling at him.

“Good work to you too, Miss Kaisa” said the owl, he looked at Sonic who smiled sheepishly at him with a glare of annoyance. He bowed his head to Sofia and Tails, but, again, before they could start talking they were interrupted by a bear bringing a huge bouquet of flowers, and then followed by more mobians bringing all kinds of gifts and slowly pushing the two hedgehogs and fox outside the room.

“Miss Kaisa, flowers and a message from Earl Brady.”

“I have flowers and a photograph of General Munter.”

“I would like to talk about your schedule interview.”

Kaisa, with a worried expression, turns to Elzio, who was by her side all the time.

“Elzio, please make sure they are at my house in the morning.”

The owl simply nodded, and looked at the guests now standing expectedly in the hallway, as he approaches them, he took a paper from his pocket and handed to Sofia, in it there was written an address and number.

“She’s busy now, as you can see” he gives them a look, maybe directed to Sonic specifically who was about to talk, and turn to return to the room “Be there at 9 AM, if you can.”

And he shut the door closed.

“What a nice guy” said Tails with a flat tone. He looked over to the hedgehogs both with almost the same expression in their faces “What should we do now?”

“We find a hotel to spend the night and come back in the morning” said Sofia with a resigned tone as she began to walk away with Sonic and Tails on her heels.

…

_ It was the middle of the day, but the street in the area was empty. Only two people were outside of the abandoned storehouse when the silent bullets pierced through their heads, the only sound being of the bodies falling to the ground and the soft walking of 3 other people. _

_ With dark glasses and dark robes they made their way to stand outside the door, one of them, a green hedgehog, started to complain. _

_ “Why the heck did I came here? I’m not the one who comes to these missions” he asked his companions who looked at him with certain pity in their eyes. The green hedgehog looked at them and with a sigh, he handled the pink hedgehog a golden rectangular object. _

_ She approaches it to her necklace, which had the form of a piano, and both the necklace and the object shone bright and seemed to fuse with each other, the object making its way below the shape of a weapon which in mere seconds was already on the hands of the female hedgehog. _

_ “Feels incredible, Manic” she said with a smile, her sunglasses gone on her pocket. She shifted the grip on the now formed assault rifle. She looked at the lion who adjust his own weapon, as well as the green hedgehog. _

_ “Are you ready?” she asked. _

_ Both nodded, and meet her gaze. _

_ “I’ll be point man” she said, taking the lead inside the building. _

_ It was mostly inhabited, they didn’t encounter any person, not even a robotized servant as they made their way to the center of the building, where they were supposed to find the source. _

_ The female hedgehog separated from the other two as they made their way to the door, she narrowed her eyes, as they glowed and the pupil contracted on a single vertical line giving her a tetrical appearance. _

_ In her eyes, the door disappeared and she could see that 5 people, 3 of them half-robotized, were all standing around a table with some maps and cigarettes surrounded by boxes with guns and crystals sticking out the boxes with Robotnik’s symbol on it. _

_ She held a fist in the air to signalize her comrades who were behind her to stop. _

_ “Just like what we were told. It’s a weapon cartel’s stronghold” she whispered to them, as she pointed her weapon at the door, some kind of purple energy gathering in the muzzle forming a circle shape. She silently fired, and a huge blast came out of it, shattering the door and killing two of them who were closer.  _

_ The other 3, who quickly dropped the table, gathered behind it and prepared their weapons. But they were too slow, as the female shoot another 3 bullets which pierced through the table, hitting all 3 of them in the chest or low stomach, and then exploding just after they pierced. _

_ There was blood all over the place, even in the ceiling and more on the floors and walls. _

_ They entered silently looking at the massacre with firm faces. _

_ “Whew” exhaled Manic, looking around with a bit of disgust written in his face. _

_ “No matter how many times I see it, that’s some insane destructive power” said the lion, walking carefully over the remains of one robotized person. _

_ “Doors, walls...piercing anything from tables made of iron boards” said the male hedgehog “to standard bulletproof vests...I think I put too many circuits on this one.” _

_ “Hey,” said the female hedgehog with an apologetic expression to her companions- “stop losing focus now.” _

_ She started walking to a corridor, which had a single door in the end. _

_ “There’s one more inside” she said with a hard expression “They were barely armed...and it doesn’t seem to be a trap…?” _

_ They stood shocked as the door opened, and saw a cat if you could call it that in that state, was sitting on a chair. It looked thin that even the bones were visible, he had robotic legs, which were red on the places where metal met flesh, his fur was almost grey and dull of color, and was missing an arm. _

_ The cat looked to the ceiling and was murmuring something. _

_ The female hedgehog started to walk at it. _

_ “Be careful, Sonia” said Manic, with an apprehensive tone in his voice. _

_ Sonia smiled at him and approached her ear to the mouth of the cat. _

_ “....278967584082739182749382….” _

_ “Numbers?” she murmured. _

_ “Who are you?” asked the lion to the cat “What’s your name? We are not criminals.” _

_ Manic rolled his eyes and got a closer look as well. _

_ “We are in the Resistance, man” he said. The cat continued to mumble the numbers, and Manic looked at the lion “I don’t think this guy is here, Cyrus.” _

_ “We..!” he almost shouted as he got hit by the sudden appearance of a wall of light, forming a cube around the cat in the chair. All 3 of them step back, seeing as suddenly the wall had begun to retreat and crush the poor cat, who didn’t make any sound as the bones crashed and blood started to flow from his nose and ears. _

_ The cube seemed to stop, and they look in horror at how only his head was outside the structure that now condensed his body, contours it in impossible ways. _

_ “The Brigade” he murmured “Again….she’ll do it. Again.” _

_ “What?” whispered Sonia, as she got closer. _

_ “She’ll do it again” the eyes of the cat, a now dull golden, centered on Sonia and she almost jumped back- “She’ll do it again.” _

_ His eyes rolled at the back of his head and stopped moving altogether. _

_ “Wha- what did he say?” asked Manic who had become pale. _

_ “He said “Rose Brigade” and “She will do it again” she said shaking her head and looking with pity at the remains of the poor cat. _

_ “Who’s “she”?” asked Cyrus, who refused to look at the feline. _

_ “I don’t know-” said Sonia softly when a beep from her communicator got their attention. _

_ “It’s Sonic” she said with relief “says he cleared the location. There was nobody but there’s something that we must see.” _

_ “I only hope it’s not something like this” said Manic turning around and leaving the room, Cyrus closed on his heels. _

_ “I hope so too” said Sonia looking for the last time at the corpse, making a mental note that it must be given to the medical department to recognize who he/she was and determine that cube of light that ended its life. _

_ … _

“I apologize for yesterday” said Kaisa as she filled the tea on the 3 cups in front of her “Did you three enjoyed the show?”

“We most certainly did” said Sonia taking the cup on her hands.

“Espectacular as always Kai” said Sonic nodding his head at the eagle who then looked at the fox, waiting for his answers.

“I’ve never been to an Opera before,” he said after a few moments of thought “it was...enlightening. A lot of people were so touched by the performance, it was amazing.”

The eagle smiled and nodded.

“It’s the power of music, child” she laughed a bit and then turned to Sonic “So, you’ve come to ask something, haven’t you?”

The hedgehog nodded as he slipped his tea, somehow talking about it made him anxious and alert.

“Are you sure?” she asked, looking at him with a smile and one brow raised “You know curiosity killed the cat…”

“ But satisfaction brought it back” he retorted smiling greatly at how she took her off guard. The eagle then smiled more naturally and stood, her feathers shining thanks to the sun that came through the window "Come. "


	14. A bit of a problem

Kaisa guided them around her house, it was a well-maintained house in the residential area of the city. It seemed old, as wet smell came to their noses as they walk deeper into the basement. 

“You know the answer will take me some time, right?” she said as she moved some boxes and revealed a door on the floor. She opened and let them into a room that looked like the one Penthesilea had, full of crystals, books, and papers. “Especially now that the prana is going nuts, but I will try to make it as quick as possible if the questions turn out to be interesting” said the eagle almost murmuring to herself the last part. 

But what most caught the attention of the young fox was that in the deep far there was a staircase leading to a pool of some sort with a circle made of wood in the center. Tails also noticed that the eerie light of the place came from within the pool as they make their way.

Kaisa stood a the edge of it, and make a motion to Sonic to step in. Sonic visibly gulped and with a look to Tails who smiled encouragingly he took a step on the still water, just for his feet to remain in the surface as the water extended waves from the movement.

The eagle put a hand on Sonic’s shoulder and started to guide him to the wood, with Sofia and Tails behind.

Once they were on the wooden platform, it began to rotate like a coin into the water. Kaisa smiled innocently as she was covered in the water her feet never losing grip on the platform. Tails got closed to Sonic who breathed air and closed his eyes until he felt the water involving him, but he didn’t feel the pressure of the water nor his fur wet. He opened his eyes and took a breath of surprise, and suddenly felt as if he was moving upwards, which he was, he looked around and saw nothing but mist and strange shadows in it.

“Where are you taking us?” asked Sonia.

“You wanted truth” she said casually “It will take me a couple of days to have the answers, of course, the dust is never clear and there are millions of possible answers. I’m taking you to the chamber where I do the readings, it’s on another level so nobody reaches it.”

“If you only need the question” stated Sonic after they seemed to reach a cloud in the some-kind ceiling “Why did you bring us here? I could very well just be off instead of being near that pool again.”

They crossed the cloud and were taking to a place seemingly endless, with only clouds and trails of what seemed to be sand everywhere and a stone path leading to a big circle with gold on the outside which make it look like a ring. Energy seemed to fill it, flowing like the sand and water all the same.

Kaisa approached the ring with Sonic and the rest until she turned to Sonic expecting the words.

“Well?”

He looked at Tails who nodded and then at Sofia, remembering their conversation of last night.

“ _ Will you waste the possibility of knowing what Eggman,  _ Robotnik,  _ is doing, just to know if Cyrus is alive?” she asked harshly and looked at Sonic who had an annoying expression in his face. _

_ “It could be our only chance to know where he is!” he almost screamed, “He could be the answer to stop whatever Eggman’s doing.” _

_ “ _ You _ were the leader, we need  _ you, _ ”  she said sternly. Suddenly her eyes softened and her shoulders relaxed “I know you want to know where he is. You guys were best friends, and I understand, but we don’t know how many of our friends, our people, came with us to this place. Just listen”  she said when Sonic was about to interrupt her “If Eggman wants to pull another scheme like the one we know, it’s going to be massive. He’s probably looking for the Chaos Emeralds, and he will be able to gather enough power to expand his reign to other galaxies. Please just think about it.” _

At that moment, she turned away to her bedroom and let Sonic think of his choices.

They could always find a way to Cyrus.

“Do you have your question?” asked the eagle calmly although annoyed that he didn’t respond. 

Sonic looked at her with an unreadable expression and nodded. She gesture with a hand to him to position himself in front of the ring.

He took a deep breath and a slight look at Tails and Sofia.

“What is Eggman planning to do with the planet?” he asked as he looked straight to the structure. 

There was a slight pause, and soon the ring started glowing brightly from within. Sonic took a step back along with Sofia and Tails, but Kaisa stood forward when something came flying towards her from inside the ring, 2 rectangular shadows quickly appeared and reveal themselves as books, thick books who placed themselves on a podium, making different melodies as they opened.

“So you get the answers from the books?” asked Tails walking towards them. They were open but written in a language he didn't understand.  _ Of course _ , he thought, _ It had to be difficult, couldn’t it be in english? _ . He turned around to see Kaisa approach with a smile, he stood aside as she looked at the books.

“How long would it take you?” asked Sofia, as they approach her as well.

The eagle turned around, after looking at the books and grimaced.

“Maybe two days” she said, but for some reason, she retract herself “No, maybe I’ll have them by tomorrow if I stay all night. Yes, come by tomorrow noon.”

She seemed worried, noticed Tails who looked at his brother to see if he thought the same, his eyes met and knew he was right. They walked to the strange “elevator” who took them to the basement and out of the house. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” asked Tails to Sofia when they were in the main street.

“No” she shook her head “I’ll like to have a few days for myself, Soleanna is almost 45 minutes from here on the train, and my house should be organized if my brother is still there”.

“Very well” said Sonic giving her a smile which he returned and turned around with Tails waving at her goodbye.

She smiled until they disappeared in the corner, her smile dropped and she frown while walking to the station, her mind thinking of the bad feeling she started having the night before. 

On the train, her anxiety only grew and soon found herself almost running through the streets of Soleanna, the people and sounds only making her more preoccupied. She turned the corner of the building on her apartment and saw Maniac waiting for her at the entrance of the building. 

She almost smiled but noticed the frown and worried face of her brother and felt a knot on her throat.

“What happened?” she choked quietly, not wanting to be heard by the other people.

Her brother looked at the building for a moment and then turned to her.

“Have you talked to the landlady recently?” he asked taking her elbow to put her close.

“I talked to her yesterday morning to let her know that you’ll arrive” her voice cracked at the end “Why?”

He took a deep breath and took her into the building, which was strangely dark for this time in the morning.

“Manic?” she asked when they arrived at the door of the landlady which was barely open “What happened to Elena?”

She took the doorknob and entered the room, and immediately froze and covered her mouth to mute her scream.

In the red cube, Elena the Bunny was contorted in unnatural ways that Sonia didn't want to even intend to describe, blood dripping from her ears and nose. Her eyes were at least closed and her mouth open in a silent scream.

Her place was messy, couches were dropped, glasses broken and blood everywhere.

Sonia took a deep breath closing her eyes and without opening them she turned around to face the door and look at Manic.

“What happened here?” she asked in a trembling whisper.

“I’m not sure” he said taking her arm to close the door so they could stay in the hall. “I came down to ask her for the water on your apartment since it came with a weird brown color I…” he stopped talking and looked at the closed door “I could never imagine it would be this”

“We never knew what it was,” she said referring to the red cube “But the last person that we found in that thing was Lord Dario Harren, he was a mathematician at the Academy of Science and Technology before Robotnik’s reign.”

She started walking back and forth in deep thought on the atrocity they found while on a mission for the resistance years ago.

And as her heels touched the ground in a rhythmic sound, he couldn’t avoid the thought that it resembled a clock.

“He used to specialized in numbers and physics, if I recall, he even had a seat in the Council” she turned to look at him “He was researching Mobius and Chaos Energy as a force to contradict Robotnik’s plans, but…”

“The Council didn’t listen and he went into hiding when the war broke” finished Manic, with a small smile “I remember it too, it’s not easy to forget something like this”

They stood in silence for a second, both thinking back at the incident.

“What do we do?” asked Manic then “One of the other people in the building came looking for her while I was waiting for you, I lied and tell her that she went out of the city in an emergency”

“We need to get rid of the body” said Sonia looking uneasy, obviously scared “Also clean the apartment”

“Where are you gonna left it?” asked his brother, noticing her  nervousness.

“Can you burn it?” Maniac seemed taken back by the harsh tone of his sisters but nodded. “You want me to do it now? in the day?”

“I-” she doubted “I don’t know! it’s a body. A dead body”

Manic took a deep breath and look at his sister who was about to have a mental breakdown.

“I’ll transport the body with a translocator,” he said looking firmly into the deep blue eyes of her sister “I have one in the forest near a stream”

She looked at him, his pink eyes reflecting the calm that she needed.

“Okay” she breathed “Okay, I’ll stay and clean. We obviously won’t tell a soul about this”

“Not even the elders?, or Sonic?” asked the green hedgehog as he started to walk inside the apartment, narrowing his eyes once again at the horrible view.

“The elders will only make a scandal and scare everyone, this is an isolated event. I’ll tell Sonic in the afternoon but I want him to rest for a few hours at least, he seems tired”

“If someone else appears like this...I’m afraid we have a big problem”

…

As the pyre burns in the late afternoon with the sunset on the horizon, the siblings grimaced at the terrible smell.

“Do you think she had a family?” asked Sonia when the body was almost consumed.

“I hope not” said Manic covering his nose. Sonia glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. 

They walked out to a clearing when the sun was almost out. Sonia took out her phone from the jacket she was wearing and quickly dialed Sonic’s number.

“ _ Yes?” _

“Hello Sonic”

_ “What happened?” _

“Why do you assume something happened?” she asked probably too quickly.

“ _ Because you said you wanted a day for yourself? And I thought we’ll be meeting tomorrow at Kaisa’s house-”  _ A crash sounded in the distance, and a yell most likely from Tails  _ “ We are having a robot difficulty please stand by” _

Sonia looked at Manic who smiled sheepishly and shrugged. The sound of crashing became much frequent and after a loud explosion that let Sonia’s ear with a ring, Sonic came back to the phone.

“ _ Okay, Tails went for the Tornado. Spill” _

Sonia quickly put the phone on speaker and looked a bit uncertain.

“Hey, Sonic” said Manic noticing that Sonia wasn’t going to talk “We stumble across a problem when Sonia came back at her apartment. A big one”

“Do you-” she cleared her throat “Do you remember Dario Harren?”

Silence came from the phone as Sonic didn't answer immediately, they knew it was a stupid question to ask, it was one of the most horrible experiences they had.

_ “Of course I do”  _ he replied in a deadpan tone.  _ “I found his wife at the storehouse I was clearing” _

“We found Sonia’s landlady in the same state”

Another silence followed.

_ “Are you sure? of course you are sure. You never mistake something like that. What did you do?” _

“We burned her,” said Manic.

“I’m going to investigate her” cut Sonia, looking more determined “She must have relation to the Craft if something like this came up”

“ _ We never figured out who was the one leaving people like that” _ said Sonic as a roar came more and closer “ _ Do your thing, I’ll go to Khauta tomorrow with Tails and see you in the afternoon at your place” _

He hangs the phone and the siblings watch each other with a worried expression. Sonic was having a good time smashing robots, apparently, and they just ruined his mood for the night. 

The only hope he wasn’t too mad when Kaisa gave him his answers.


	15. Troublesome incident

From so high up every home was like an autumn leaf. Around them was the green of the trees and the roads shining like silvery stems on a frosted morning. The clouds moved in a gentle breeze which Sonic was very grateful for.

The call from Sonia yesterday evening put him on edge. When Tails came with the plane and ask if they should visit Vanilla and Cream’s house, because the data of Eggman he got previously should be finished in a day or two at least, Sonic immediately refused and lied that he was tired and wanted to be at home.

If the same person who killed people with those cubes, or someone was replicating the methods was around then he doesn’t want to left Tails alone, even though he could defend himself with no problem.

They were currently on their way to Khauta, they had been on the plane for at least an hour now and he could tell that Tails was noticing his strange behavior. Nothing escapes that kid.

The city seemed quiet when they arrived and Kaisa’s apartment was on a peaceful part of the town which was surrounded by a small community of artists.

When they turned on the corner to her house, they saw the police blocking the street, specifically for her house. People were starting to come over to see, so Sonic quickly got over human police.

“Hey,” said the hedgehog catching his attention “What happened here?”

“We are not sure yet,” said the man, noticing who was talking to him “We are waiting for the G.U.N agents to step out of the house” he turned his head as he was called and went to talk to somebody else

“What a tragedy,” said a woman behind the hedgehog. “I went to her show 2 days ago”

“Marcela went into the house this morning,” said the woman next to her, replying to her commentary “She went to give her some of the sweets she had made the night before. I’m not sure what happened but she was screaming and was really frightened like she saw something awful”

“She was murdered then?” asked the first lady, her tone shaking. Sonic noticed Tails ear rising and an apprehensive expression crossed his face.

“That’s what Marcela said” nodded sadly the other, Sonic raised his ear “But what happened to her, in Marcela’s words, was an atrocity. She’s with the cops now, they are interrogating her.

Sonic, who had enough of the hearing, took Tail’s arm and drag him through the people in his way to one of the cops who was talking to a young woman with black hair, she had her arms around her, her face paler than other humans and for the look of fear in his face, she had to be Marcela.

“Can you ask the cops why G.U.N is here?” he said gesturing to the truck with their insignia on the side. 

Tails looked at Sonic for a moment, possibly doubting his intentions or maybe just examining him, but nodded and went to the officers who were more than surprised to see Tails talking to them.

Sonic smiled a bit and went to talk towards the woman, the officer was talking to her, but soon saw Sonic and raised an eyebrow. The hedgehog walks up to the lady and talks before the cop could say anything.

“Excuse me, are you Marcela?” he said smiling leisurely, the woman seemed to take back but nodded and wait for him to continue “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I..” she started but looked at the cop who seemed to be hearing something in his earbud “I went to gave Miss Kaisa some of the sweets I prepared last night, I have a bakery. But when I came, the door was open which gave the vibe that something was wrong”

“You were alone?” he asked then.

“Yes, I live at the other end of the street so it wasn’t very far. But when I come in...I- I’m not sure what I saw” she shuddered and closed her eyes, Sonic started to frown and to tap his foot slightly “When I came into the living room, everything was torn apart and destroyed, there was blood in the walls and ceiling. Then I saw her- it. I saw it. Miss Kaisa was in a cube?” she asked herself, her eyes still close and unaware of the horrified look in Sonic’s face, she felt a gush of wind who nearly knocked her off and the screams of the officers when something came into the house.

Sonic looked around with slightly scared eyes and a deep frown. The place was a mess, just as Marcela had explained, the blood was everywhere and there was a cloth over a square package in the far corner of the room, most of the blood was concentrated there and the cloth was sopping red.

“What do you think you are doing, Faker?”

Sonic looked around immediately to find his black doppelganger looking at him with the same stern look of always, maybe with a hint of annoyance. 

“Answer my question” he stated, and Sonic looked around once more. 

“I had to meet with her today,” he said carefully, his voice with a slight tremble “I went to her show yesterday”

The black hedgehog lifted an eyebrow and took him for the arm, forcefully dragging him to the kitchen. On the counter talking to a communicator in his wrist, Rogue stands in her normal posture with a hand on her hip. He looked sideways when they entered and she grinned.

“..there’s no trace of forced entry, and the forensic will arrive shortly to take the.. remains” she paused to hear the answer on her earbud “Sure thing, commander”

She cut the communication and looked at Sonic with a smirk.

“Well, what a surprise, blue,” she said looking at the hedgehog, her tone made him frown even deeper “What are you doing here?”

“As I was telling the faker” he looked sharply at the black hedgehog “I had to meet with her today”

“And you know her how?”

“We are old acquaintances, so to speak,” he said “I saved her years ago and I owed her a favor, nothing else”

“Mmhh,” said Rouge eying him, he started to tap his feet in annoyance. “Did Tails came with you?

Sonic looked at her with a ‘duh’ expression, she laughed quietly.

“Do you know what happened to her?” he asked, starting to lose patience.

She regained her serious expression and looked at Shadow for a moment before answering.

“We don’t know yet, seemed to be a fight” she said, revealing nothing else.

“I assume you’ll be taking her to G.U.N?” he said looking in the direction of the living room.

 “Of course” said Rouge “The cops here don’t have the resources to investigate something like this”

“Something like this?” he repeated, wanting to confirm what he almost saw “What does that mean?”

“Enough of this chat” said Shadow suddenly, looking displeased at how Rouge was given the blue hedgehog information “You” he pointed at him with a finger “have to leave, this is not your call”

Sonic holds a scowl and walked,  _ walked _  out of the kitchen in searching of Tails, not even paying a glance to the living room where, what he assumed was forensic, was starting to lift the cloth.

Outside, he glanced around looking for a yellow spot, he noticed said spot in the farther corner of the street. When he noticed that Elzio, the conductor and friend of Kaisa who was talking to Tails, had a frown on his face, but did not seem sad or whatsoever.

“She couldn’t finish the readings but I managed to save these papers” he was saying to Tails as he handed him those papers. He was about to say something else when he spotted the blue hero approach.

Tails looked up from the paper and smiled grimly at Sonic, the hero ruffed his bangs and put a hand around the fox’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” said Sonic when Elzio looked at him, the owl barely react. 

The hedgehog looked at Tails from the side and the fox, who noticed, imperceptibly moved his head.

“I hope the papers are of help for you two” he sighed looking at Sonic, then he looked at the house where the bat and the other hedgehog from earlier were starting to exit the building. Without a word, the owl went into the house.

“What are we going to do now, Sonic?” asked Tails looking through the papers.

“Can you translate it?” said the hedgehog noticing that the papers were not in a language he understood.

“I think so” said Tails, thinking carefully. He looked over the papers once again, there were 3 paragraphs in total each one with a title, he presumed. “The cops weren’t very clear, but they said that they decided to call them since they had never found anything like that before. Did you go inside? What was in there? Is Kaisa really…?”

Sonic’s suddenly grim face was all the answer he needed. Tails took a deep breath and release it slowly.

He needed to crack this language, whatever it was, because it may have been the only answer to whatever Eggman’s planning.

“It wasn’t a pretty view,” said Sonic suddenly, rounding with one arm the shoulders of Tails “Let’s get out of here?”

Tails nodded, despite wanting to know more, he knew that this wasn’t the time and let himself be guided by his brother in direction of the tornado.

Then he wasn’t surprised when Sonic took the pilot seat to fly the plane, though it wasn’t very often, it normally helps the blue hedgehog calm his nerves when he couldn’t run, which Tails was sure he was having.

…

Once the agents finished getting the box containing the remains of the poor woman, Rogue turned around searching for his partner.

Shadow was now looking straight at one point, which was were the blue hero was talking to his yellow partner, which know were looking at them.

“He’s hiding something,” said Shadow when she arrived at his side, they watched the hedgehog guide Tails out of the view and possibly to their plane. “He was agitated when you ask him about the Eagle”

Rouge said nothing, waiting for his partner to get his conclusions, but she was thinking the same.

“He hid very well,” said Rouge when the black hedgehog didn't talk “But one of the advantages of having big ears is that you hear everything, even a heart, and his was racing more than normal”

“Where is the truck going now?” asked Shadow once the crowd was being departed and they looked back at the house “It’s a long way to the United Federations”

“G.U.N need the permission of Princess Elise” she answered “Khauta is part of her dominion, so it most likely that from here they’ll go to the embassy in Soleanna, then an airship will deliver it to the research facilities”

Rouge was about to speak again when Shadow was suddenly gone and only bits of green energy surrounded the area. She grimaced and muttered a “really?” before flying up and noticing a biplane in the distance.

“ _ Most likely,”  _ she thought smiling to herself.


	16. The Mission

Sonia watched as his brother passed from one side to the other of the room, deep in thought. He had been like this for a while now, and it was starting to get into her nerves, even more, when a little earthquake shook their building and crashed a glass to the ground that her brother went to pick it up without a word and start to pass again.

She was about to ask him to stop when he came into a halt and she jumped back at the sudden movement.

“Manic,” she said slowly “What is it?”

“A lot of things” he replied pausing “Which one do you wanna know? The urgent one or the worrying one?”

Sonia looked at his brother once more, looking for a hint. She took a seat on her couch once again and raised her legs to support her arms.

“The urgent one”

“They are looking for Elena,” he said plainly, her eyes opened “Probably already called the cops”

“And the worrying one?” she asked in a whisper.

“Sonic”

“Sonic? What about him?”

“He found himself in trouble again,” he said looking to the sunset through the window, the city bustling activity now slowly decreasing with the approaching of the night “I guess he’ll call in a few minutes”

“O-okay” she found herself agreeing.

They stood in silence when suddenly the door rang.

Sonia, still shaken from everything that had happened, especially in the last days, look at the door as a deer caught in the light. She stood and breathing slowly, she steadies herself and with some fake confidence, she trailed to the door.

She opened and a red wolf smiling brightly quickly came in without a word.

“Uhm,” she said still holding the door “Come in?” 

“Lucy?” she asked when she closed the door and had a better look at her uninvited guest.

“I’m sorry for intruding,” said the wolf looking at her, obviously not feeling in the least sorry  “But we have a job for you”

“What?” she asked quickly, not sure if she understood.

“The elders, they have a job for you,” she said annoyingly rolling her eyes.  She looked around the department and Manic fierce eyes snapped at her.

“What kind of job?” asked Sonia sitting once again.

“Steal something from G.U.N” Sonia raised an eyebrow in surprise and Lucy smiled and took some papers out of the bag she was carrying and dropped them in the near table. She smiled once again and started to walk to the door “ We knew we could count with you,  _ your highness _ ” she said mockingly.

Sonia was about to snap at her when the door shut closed, she sighed loudly and looked at Manic who was approaching the table.

She seated once again heavily this time and hide her face with her hands.

“Sonia..” said Manic, she snapped her head at him for the soft tone he used. He gave her one of the papers.

The picture was in great detail the life of Kaisa Schatten, also known as Kaisa the Eagle. How her house served the crown back in their home, and how she was a great addition to their craft here in Mobius, and...the wish of gave her a proper burial.

“What happened?” she asked horrified, her voice in a whisper.

“The same as Elena, apparently,” said Manic looking grim at the table. Sonia stood and walk to his brother and saw it. An image of the cube, and something twisted beyond recognition except the golden feathers in the ground.

“By the gods” exhaled Sonia. 

After a moment of silence, Manic asked.

“Are you taking the job?” he asked looking her while she closed the curtains and set on the lights. 

“It will be too suspicious if I don’t” she sighed walking to her room where Manic followed her “I have taken jobs for the elders before, but nothing like- like this”

She walked to her wooden wall and with her finger in a hole, she pulled and the door revealed hidden weapon storage.

Manic whistle and sat on her bed.

“Didn’t you said to Sonic that you never wanted that life?” he asked referring to the sniper she took out.

“Old habits die hard, I guess,” she said kneeling to take a box out and handling to Manic. “If I need this,” she said taking the gun “then it’ll be ready”

He opened the box and saw cylindrical little tubes. 

“Cartridges?” he asked putting them aside and looking at her confused.

“Your type,” she said closing the door. “I was hoping you could help me with a few of them”

“Of course,” he said standing with the box and walking into the kitchen table, where he deposited the box and went to his room. He came back to find Sonia with her weapon completely disarmed.

“I hope you remember how to assemble that again,” he said taking his phone out.

“Like riding a bike”

The phone suddenly rang and Manic answered and put the speaker.

_ “Maniac,”  _ said the voice of the blue hero  _ “Are you with Sofia?” _

Noticing the fake names, Sonia answered first.

“I’m here,” she said and sighed when she remembered her conversation with Manic just moments before “What happened now?”

She clicked on part of the gun in place.

_ “I believe you already know If what I just heard is what I think” _

She took a seat close to the phone and sighed over it.

“Kaisa?” she hear mumbling and took it as a yes “We did, and...well. We have news too”

“The council already knows, the elders asked Sofia to retrieve the remains,” said Manic unfolding a paper with a strange circle in it “The report they send had place and hour. In three days, at midnight at the UF embassy”

_ “I didn’t know you took missions for them,”  _ said Sonic after a pause “ _ I have a friend in G.U.N already suspecting. I hate to admit it but he’s powerful and he has good use in Chaos Energy, he might around so be careful not to be spotted. _

Suddenly another voice joined the conversation.

“ _ Why do your people want with the body of Kaisa?” _ the voice was indisputable Tails’.

“We are not sure” answered Maniac “And Lucy, the one who delivered the message, wasn’t clear either”

_ “Sonic told me about your landlady, Sofia, “ _ said the fox “ _ I’m sorry” _

“We believe it’s the same person, the bodies where found in almost the same state,” said Sofia.

There was silence from the other side, and a light came from her side as Manic took one of the cylindrical tubes into the paper and glowed. Sonia feared she might have said something that she shouldn't but the kit quickly speak again.

“ _ The data from Eggman should be ready tonight or tomorrow morning,” _ said Tails “ _ I find it quite strange that it took me almost 5 days to crack this much information. But I hope to find some blueprint of what he was doing in that cave or something that can help us” _

“Thank you Tails,” said Sonia looking at his brother concentrated in the cartridge, his eyes glowing slightly  “We will do some recognition in the place tonight and call you tomorrow if we find something”

“ _ Sure” _ answered Sonic this time  _ “Likewise, we’ll call you if something’s up in our end” _

The phone clicked off after that.

“The cartridges are almost ready,” said Manic after a prolonged silence with only the work of Sonia on her gun as the noise “all of them induce sleep”

Sonia mumbled thanks while she took her computer. The embassy had a web page where you could see the list of members of those working on the place, including the security company, Alen’s Security with a personnel directory which includes name and email of the staff. She found that some human named Francesco Stone had a title in visual matrix design and was in charge of designing the security system at the embassy.

She grinned as she passed the computer to his brother, who was now saving his things on the box he brought.

“Can you find this guy and access his computer from here?” she asked. “I want to see the blueprints and cameras of the place”

Manic took the computer and her sister perched to look over his shoulder.

He quickly pasted the name on the browser and showed a list, the 2 first guys were from other countries but the third was with a home in Soleanna.

“Seems this guy likes books,” he said noticing his feed on a social network. It was the guy, bald with glasses posing with shelves full of books, repeat through 50 photos. 

“Oh, Francesco” laughed Sonia quietly as his brother created a false advertisement on book sales.

“I’ll send this in the morning to his email,” said Manic as his sister began to walk away to the counter, taking to cups to the coffee machine. “I’ll hack it when he’s out for lunch”

“Poor guy won’t know what hit him,” she found herself smiling as steam started to come in of the machine.

…

“Has Sonic called yet?” asked the pink hedgehog taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. It was almost midday now, and they were waiting for the time of the entire embassy office to-go lunch.

“They guy already opened the email,” said Manic instead eyeing his sister “No, he hasn’t called”

“Did you see the bat here earlier?” asked the green hedgehog after a moment of silence? “She asked for a coffee”

“Here? In a coffee shop?” she asked sarcastically.

“I’m serious Sonia” the hedgehog put the computed aside when the barista brought him his coffee and a muffin “The mobian population here in Soleanna is not that big, and I have never seen a white bat before, except only one time” 

“White? You think is the same person?” she asked then when another barista handle her a coffee of her own. 

“She didn’t recognize me, I believe,” he said taking a sip “But she’s quite difficult to miss, she was a well-known jewel thief”

“Was?” 

“She’s working with G.U.N”

Sonia shocked at her drink and looked at Manic with disbelief.

“She’s in Team Dark, along with an E-123 Omega robot who used to be Eggman’s and a hedgehog named Shadow who I know nothing about”

“They are the ones protecting the cargo,” she said after a moment of thinking “They are good?”

“Top of the class,” said the hedgehog finishing his muffin and moving the computer once more. He checked quickly the time, and manage to hack the computer and watched if he came back from the camera on it.

“He doesn’t have a password” he mumbles and looking at his projects, they were all in display and he needed more security in here. He quickly got the blueprints and showed them over to his sister.

“Look,” she said pointing with her finger a spot on the second floor “this bathroom is the only place of the building with a blind spot, maybe I can snatch her away through the vents? Or maybe the window in front”

“First, you need to see the place inside if you want to get out,” Manic told her, knowing she would give him the look of confusion. “In the house behind the embassy, leaves the ambassador and his wife, she works for a fashion company, and they are doing research in mobian fashion”

“Okay,” she said slowly when he didn’t continue Sonia looked at him and he raised an eyebrow, suddenly it clicked “Oh” 

“Yes. Oh.” 

“How do I even get in then?” she asked.

“I got it cover sis”

…

“Will you come with me to the embassy, darling?” asked Catherine, the ambassador's wife when she appeared the next day “There are some papers left for me, and I could use a walk. We can talk about the jewelry used in the cover on the way”

Sonia smiled sweetly at the woman, helping her with the door and walking through the hall. They quickly crossed the yard that connected the two buildings and when they entered Sonia and the woman noticed a lot of people were on the embassy, a lot more than usual.

They passed a bat who walked past them, her way of walk indicated that she was very confident of herself, always looking straight forward. But Sonia noticed how she halt suddenly and turned to them, she didn't start walking immediately but her footsteps were heard after a bit. 

_ “That’s the bat,” _ thought Sonia  _ “If she’s here then her companions must not be far, at least the hedgehog” _

“What’s happening here?” asked Catherine when they suddenly halt on a hallway, Sonia had been so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't notice when some G.U.N Agents stopped her and the human.

“We are sorry ma’am,” said one of them “But these area has been restricted to everyone”

“Does my husband know about this?” she then asked, starting a discussion with the officers.

Noticing that no one was paying attention to her, Sonia excused herself to the bathroom “Go ahead, dear. I have to talk with these gentlemen for a bit” and was about to sneak through another hallway when she bumped from the side with someone he thought to be Sonic.

“Watch your step,” said the black hedgehog.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking” she looked up and dark ruby met crystal blue. She almost choked when she felt power flowing and radiating like water from that hedgehog, and not any energy but Chaos. “I- I was looking for the bathrooms, do you know where they are?”

He didn’t answer and she felt tiny as he glares at her, like looking for something deep within her. She fixed her posture when he kept silent, and with a sigh she started walking again, feeling his eyes on her back until she disappeared from the view. She hides behind the wall and released a heavy sigh, the energy starting to feel even farther as she waited for a few seconds.

“ _ That must be the guy Sonic was talking about,”  _ she thought as she walked up the stairs “ _ He looks a lot like him, but he’s filled the Chaos Energy. I must be careful if they are in charge of security” _

She turned in a hallway in time to see something in a box shape being introduced in a room, when the box entered she noticed that the white bat from before was talking to an officer with a hand on her hip and a confident smile, looking around she noticed that the bathroom from the blueprint was on the contrary hallway. Smiling to herself she started to walk to the stairs and find her way to Catherine once again.

She reached her earring and pressed.

“ _ Hacker service, what can I do for you?” _

“Brother, I need audio on the west side, second floor” 

_ “Incoming” _

“The remains will be stored here,” said a male “The room was previously a medical room before and has a thermostat inside, also we’ve implemented 4 more cameras and there’ll be officer guarding the entrance, no one will ever think about this room. It’s just filled with boxes”

“Good,” said a female voice, which she assumed was the bat “Quite the place for the dead”

“Agent Rouge?”

“Nothing, darling. Just thinking” ‘Agent Rouge’ said “Anyways, the order is expected to be ready tomorrow morning, so it’ll be here just for tonight”

_ “We’ll have to make the move sooner,” _ said Manic cutting the audio and making her jump slightly “ _ Sonic called, by the way” _

“And?” she said as she found Catherine still talking to the officers.

“ _ He says that Tails found information that could be of assistance. They’ll be here tomorrow in two days. He said that he has to take care of something first” _

“He didn't tell you what it was?” she asked then, eyeing Catherine who seemed to be calming herself.

“ _ No, but he seemed agitated” _

 “Mmh”

…

In the table lied three different jewels, each with different colors laying in a soft cloth. Sonia looked at them warily and glanced at Manic when he appeared in the kitchen beside her.

“I managed to store three different spells in each one of these jewels,” said Manic not even eyeing his sister “The red one has a shrinking spell, that would be useful when you found the box. The blue one has a speed bust if you found yourself in trouble. And finally, the green one has an illusion spell”

“So I just throw them to the ground?” she asked reaching to one when Manic snapped her hand, she frowned and rubbed her hand.

“The spells will activate 10 seconds after contact, and immediately if they touch a hard surface before that,” he said picking the clothes and involving the gems.

He then gave her two boxes, one empty and the other with the jewels.

“Go prepare yourself,” he said smiling “I’ll have ready your route”

…

Sonia, letting her byke a block away from the embassy, started making her way through the roofs of the buildings when she almost tripped on the edge of the mansion, looking around she noticed there were 4 agents of G.U.N in the rooftop, 5 down in the yards and, putting her special glasses, she noticed at least 4 in the hallway.

_ “The guy in the yard with golden shoulder pads is the commanding officer,”  _ said Manic from her com “ _ If you can take him down, it’ll create a commotion” _

“And they’ll be more alert” she whispered back “I need to get them out of the hallway so I can reach the door”

“ _ Exactly,” _ he said “ _ By creating a problem in the yard they’ll likely leave only one guard at the door, or two. Then you cast an illusion, take the box with the shrinking spell and leave” _

“That sounds good too”

She then runs to the officers, taking them down one by one and depositing them in the ground as silent as she could. She then hooks herself to the chimney of the building and tieing up the wire over her ankle she jumped off the building and took out the sniper she had on her back. She now was turned upside down, her lenses quickly acted as night vision and she could see as clear as day.

" _ Shame that I don't have my medallion anymore"  _ she lamented herself aiming at the commanding officer who was listening to his comm, his face was hard and seemed to be talking.

With a silent bang that could be easily mistaken for a card in the alley, the officer fell to the ground and Sonia quickly lowered herself to the window behind her. 

She let the cord hanging and she made her way inside as quietly as she could.

In the hallway just like they had suspected, they leave only one officer. Unfortunately for her, it was the white bat.

She let out a silent long sigh and prepare herself, at least it wasn't that black hedgehog that gave her the creeps. She took a deep breath and launched herself at the bat who's face panicked only slightly before she smiled knowingly.

"You shouldn't have come, dear"

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and leave a kudo! :)


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